The Heart Egg of Emptiness
by IvoryMaster
Summary: The heart is a difficult subject to understand. One individual learned the meaning moments before his death. Now, he was given a second chance at life, but has no memories of his final battle or the lesson he learned. While searching for answers, he was lead to discover Easter. Will Amu be able to reteach him the lesson he learned, or will she succumb to his despair?
1. Ch 1 The New Arrival

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Shugo Chara or Bleach; they belong to their respective owners. Anyways, this is my first story ever published, so I intend to finish it. I have a summer to complete it or get a huge amount done before I head off to college where I won't have all the time to work on it. That being said, I intend to finish it. As far as liking it goes, I don't care it you like it or hate, I'm doing this for me, but feel free to leave comments about what can be improved because I not very good at using descriptive language and fluency could use some help. Anyways Enjoy!**

* * *

 **The Heart Egg of Emptiness**

 **Ch. 1 New Arrival**

The warm, palpable atmosphere of a warm night teemed around Ulquiorra as his body felt the damp blades of grass being crushed underneath his body. His eyes instantly opened and were greeted by the dark, blue skies with bright spots of light shining forth, making the sight beautiful, a sight that couples would like to enjoy. The air, the skies, they were not familiar to Ulquiorra because the atmosphere of Hueco Mundo oozed with coldness and melancholy, something that he has grown accustomed to since he has lived in Hueco Mundo for a very long time. The dark, black skies that once harbored a crescent-shape moon that never sets or rises was absent; instead, a full, glowing moon with astonishing beauty located itself at the zenith of the blue night. Ulquiorra has visited the human realm several times, and he usually went when it was dark, so judging by the position of the moon, he would have to say that it is between midnight and 1 a.m. After his realization of not being in Hueco Mundo, he arose from the damp ground, and dusted himself off from any dirt that may have stuck to him. He then instinctively reached down to his hips to confirm that his sword was still with him. It did relieve his worry when he felt the hard metal sheath of his sword located on his left hip.

All worries aside, he analyzed his surroundings to ascertain some sort of idea about where he was, other than being in the human world. The area had a huge opening with tall, vibrant trees scraping the mid skies along with waist-high shrubs that were coated with small lively flowers that were complemented by the night sky, making them beautiful. It was almost hard to see all the tiny details shrouded in darkness, but the glowing moon provides enough light for a human to see at least rough figures. His best estimates were that he was in the middle of a small forest or park.

His head soon became flooded with many unanswerable questions, but the most important question that would linger within him for a long time was…

"How did I arrive in the human world? I do not recall using the Garganta to get here, and why was I lying on the floor?" The last memory he recalls is the battle with Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo just unleashed the power of his hollow mask and was beginning to overpowering Ulquiorra with its raw power. Knowing that it was futile to continue fighting in his current state, he sped through the hole in the wall created by Ichigo, and headed straight up to the canopy's fake sky. He kept going up until he slashed his sword, breaking through the canopy, and went through the gaping hole, making his way outside Las Noches and out into Hueco Mundo. Being outside Las Noches was a must for Ulquiorra because it was forbidden for the Espada to release their resurreccion if they are ranked four or higher; his resurreccion had the potential to destroy the entire castle if he released his zanpakuto. Unfortunate for him, he could not remember anything else; he knows that he released his zanpakuto and that's it. He put remembering the past aside since he knew that endeavoring to remember the forgotten was futile.

Before Ulquiorra did anything else, he immediately suppressed his spiritual pressure. It was a countermeasure to ensure that no being with high spiritual pressure can trace his spiritual pressure back to him and attack him. Anybody who had the ability to sense any type of spiritual pressure could easily pick up on his spiritual pressure. It was not because he was afraid to fight; it would be beneficial for him to first learn where he was before he engaged in a fight that could destroy a city. He then used his pesquisa to extend his own awareness to pick up people with spiritual pressure. After waiting for a minute, he could not identify anything. Unsatisfied with the results, he only closed his eyes and exhaled his breath to relieve some frustration without breaking his emotionless demeanor. With nothing else to do, he lifted his arm and tried to open up the Garganta to return to Hueco Mundo, but nothing happened. This alerted him because he can usually open up the Garganta with ease. This put Ulquiorra in a pensive mood. The best explanation he can make is that something is preventing him from opening the Garganta. If he wanted answers, then he would have to find somebody he can talk to. Taking to the skies using sonido, he looked around in the horizon to find anything that may help him in his situation.

Far out in the horizon in the west, Ulquiorra spotted a faint, eerie glow. Judging from the strength of the glow, he estimated that the glow was coming from a city about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from where he was standing now (in the air). Seeing that it was his only option to understand his situation, he proceeded to the glow at a high speed using sonido. As he got closer to the glow, it shone brighter and he can hear sounds of exhaust pipes churning out carbon monoxide and the sound of multiple people conversing with one another. He stopped his momentum in a single second, and he saw the towering skyscrapers that erected from the city, even though he was standing above the highest skyscraper far out in the distance. Looking down, he witnessed a river of cars flowing through the streets of the city. The honks and screeching of rubber on concrete added to the concert of the city's various sounds. It was unlike Las Noches. That humongous castle was twice, even three times, the size of the city before him, yet Las Noches was more silent due to every Espada did not talk to each other often for amusement. Ulquiorra felt it would be beneficial if he were to traverse within the city to ascertain answers.

Turning himself to face the ground, he plummeted himself in that direction until he was a few meters off the floor. He repositioned himself so that his feet would be the first to land on the ground. He did so a little ways off a road that lead to the city. Being right next to the road in the forest-like area, he headed for the street while his clothes were being tugged by the hands of branches sticking out to grab him, but his clothes were able to survive the onslaught of branches unscathed. Soon, he found his way to the sidewalk, only to be met by a roar of a semi-truck summoning forth a gust of wind as it passed to crash into Ulquiorra, causing his hair to ride the wind. As it settled, he proceeded to the city to investigate if anybody can help him. The moment he got closer to the city and left the outskirts of town, laughter, commotion, and all the other sounds that accompany a city began to flow out more in the city. The sounds got stronger and stronger until there was no denying that he was in the city, filled with humans, where they go to interact and perform their remedial jobs. When Ulquiorra got to an intersection, he turned to the left and kept on going, seeing ahead a crowd of people coming his way. He kept on going without falter.

Ulquiorra walked against the flow of the crowd, people ignoring him because they could not see him, or so he thought. He noticed that people began to give him funny looks towards his direction. _No. It could possibly. There is no way that regular people with no spiritual pressure could possibly see me._ Everything was confirmed when a small force hit his right shoulder, causing him to take a step back because he was not expecting for that to occurred.

"Whoops! Sorry, my bad." expressed the bystander as he bowed to show his apologies to him.

"..." Ulquiorra was surprised for a brief millisecond, but then his usual frown automatically reformed.

Seeing that it was not a big deal, the bystander continued with his business on the phone, walking in the opposite direction of Ulquiorra, talking about some business that might take off and make him successful.

 _That human was able to come in contact with my shoulder. I sensed no spiritual pressure coming from him, yet he was able to touch me. Does that mean that all these people can see me? That would explain why people are looking me with a quaint expression._

To test his hypotheses, Ulquiorra remained motionless in the same spot. He waited for somebody to pass by in order to test his hypothesis. After some time, he spotted two lively girls walking towards him. They were laughing and dressed to have a lot of fun. They looked to be around their early-twenties; the perfect test subjects for his hypothesis. They were having the time of their life until they drew near a Ulquiorra.

"You two, I have a question that must be answered."

The two women stopped, giving a big gulp and stepping back a little. They both looked at each other because they did not know what to do in a situation where a guy clad in weird clothing demanding a question from them, and asking in a command rather than in a question-like manner; this indeed instilled a little hesitation in the women.

"Y-y-yeesss." One of the them stuttered shyly.

His body was intimidating. His cold, piercing eyes locked on to both the woman's eyes, and the frown that always planted on his face added more intimidation to him. Sweat drops formed in the corner of their heads, and slowly began to slide down. They wanted to leave, but they were afraid of what was going to occur next. He stared at them with his blank eyes that show no sign of emotion for what seemed to be an eternity. The girls wanted to say something, but were too afraid to utter a single word; Ulquiorra could see their despair within their eyes.

"Nevermind. I got the answer I was looking for. You may leave." He finally stated, breaking the silent tension.

The women quickly moved to the left of him and walked quickly as to get as far away as possible. He did not feel anything from them, and yet, they were able to see him, recognize that he was there. His hypothesis was correct: people can see him but can't feel his power. Normal people shouldn't be able to see him, not if they had some sort of spiritual pressure, but the previous two encounters beg to differ.

 _These people are not normal. They must have something that is allowing them to see me, but they don't emit anything that is remotely close to spiritual pressure. Can this have something to do with my appearance in the human realm and how I got here? Or, maybe, perhaps…_ He proceeded farther into the heart of the city.

If he wasn't attracting attention, he was certainly now. The eyes of many pedestrians began to gravitate toward Ulquiorra's coming. It is not everyday that a person witnesses a man with ghost-white pale skin, with white suspicious clothes clad onto him, while having a bone-like helmet sticking out like a sore thumb on one side of his head, and that's not including the sword hanging from his right hip. He ignored them all because he did not care what these people thought of him. They were all the same to him in his eyes-trash.

Ulquiorra kept going down the street until he had to stop at an intersection. To pass the time while the light gave him the signal to continue, he looked up at the night sky again. The glowing moon still persisted over the city, almost as if it was watching over the city like a guardian. Dark clouds swooped in from the east, masquerading parts of the moon with their puffy mass. Suddenly, a weird sensation came over Ulquiorra. He twisted his head to the left, only to be greeted by a man wearing a typical business suit. He gave off something different than the inhabitants of the city he witnesses. The others had vibrancy in their eyes, vibrancy that can be spread just by looking at one another, like a disease being spread in an air-tight compact room, but this man was different. He gave off a very apathetic aura. His back slouched forward, putting it in a state where prolonged exposure would leave him slouched permanently. His arms just dangled there, with no real purpose at all. The man's face showed no hint of any life at all, and his eyes stared blankly into space, not paying attention to his surroundings. A closer look reveals that his eyes had no pupils present. This man had the life sucked out of him, and now only an empty shell of his former self existed.

The crosswalk sign flickered green, and Ulquiorra began to walk across the street, except the man besides him remained his spot, not moving an inch, unaware of his surroundings. It appeared to Ulquiorra that this man walked around the city aimlessly, no purpose or idea about where he went. Ulquiorra disregarded this as an anomaly and continued going down the street leading to the other side of town.

He may have not known it at the time, but It looks as if Ulquiorra was going through town, taking in the sites the city had to offer. He saw coffee shops, clothing stores, and restaurant as he continued down the street. He even got the see the rare occasion of outside street performers playing music right on the opposite side of the road. The performance filled the air with the sounds of guitars, drums, and keyboards all working in unison place a well-deserved smile on the city's inhabitant; people gathered around them just to listen to their colorful music. It was rather annoying to Ulquiorra because he prefers a nice, quiet place rather than a place filled with various sounds to make people feel good for a moment. But hidden under the heavy racket of the melodious tune, Ulquiorra heard the sound of strings being slid across to produce a different sound; he believes that it was from a violin that was producing this sound. It was quite different from the racket he was listening to; it had a melancholic tune rather than an upbeat one, a melancholic tone that kind of appealed to Ulquiorra. He looked around the streets and nobody else was listening closely to the violin, or couldn't because this violin was being played somewhere else where the insulting racket couldn't disrupt its tune. It was thanks to him being an arrancar that he was able to notice the quiet echoes of the violin gliding through the night skies. Ulquiorra did not want to find where the violin sounds were originating from, so he continued on his walk, passing the band of racket makers, and slowly escaping the quiet whispers of the violin sneaking across the loud area for nobody else to listen. _What a shame._ He thought.

After an hour of observant walking, a dense fog rolled in to shroud his line of sight as he approached the outskirts of town. It was difficult for anyone to see ten feet in front of him, but not for Ulquiorra. His senses allowed him to generate vague figures in the fog, not quite seeing close details, but rough figures to know if something is there. The streets were empty, no signs of life were present. As he continued down the street, a black tall structure the size of a skyscraper started to unravel itself as Ulquiorra drew closer to it. The structure still remained dark no matter how close Ulquiorra got to it. Once he got near the figure, his feet were greeted by steps. The steps themselves were very large, indicating that this was either a heavily-trafficked area during the day, or an important area seeing that it owned wide steps in front of the base of the structure. He continued up them until a signed unshadowed itself from the mist, alongside with a stone figure of a crescent moon immediately to the sign's right. Letters could be seen, and the letters read…

"Easter." Ulquiorra said.

He went passed the sign, and headed for the doors. Suddenly, for the first time since his arrival, he felt the presence of something that was similar to spiritual pressure, but not quite the same. This presence gave off an unnerving, yet familiar feeling, the same feeling regular hollows give off, but still different from hollows. Nevertheless, it gave off an energy that felt sad. The doors flung open, and something small and black rushed out of the door. Following this small object was a man with brown hair wearing a lab coat sprinting out, carrying a giant, oversized net that can usually be found in cartoons. Two more people with lab coats followed, one man and one woman, both carrying oversized nets. From the looks of it, these scientist, or idiots as Ulquiorra thought, were chasing down this black object. Having some interest as to what this object was, Ulquiorra's quick reflexes allowed him to spring his arm out and catch the thing desired by the scientist. It had an oval feel, like a chicken egg. He brought his hand in front of him and saw what he predicted-an egg. This egg's shell was covered in a abyss black, and it seems right because Ulquiorra could feel the negative energy radiating from its core. This egg also had a big, white "X" right in the middle. It was an egg, so it naturally felt fragile, like any egg should be, and it could be easily broken by the slightest twitch of his fingers. In a way, it kind of resembled his power, even if it was a mere fraction-calling it a fraction would be giving this egg too much of a compliment. Nevertheless,Ulquiorra deemed this egg trash compared to him.

The three scientist stopped in their track in a stooges manner as one kept on bumping into the other's back upon seeing a strange man capture the X-egg with his bear heads at a moment's notice. The first scientist looked at his colleagues, and they both gave him a nod. So he stepped forward, taking unnecessary step so he does not trip over and fall and make him look like an idiot in front of this stranger, not knowing that he already looked idiotic with his oversized butterfly net. He looked back at his colleagues, and they were all rolling their hands in a wheel motion; he had to ask for the egg.

"Hello, Thanks for catching that X-egg. You saved us the trouble of chasing it down the street in this thick fog. If you don't mind, may we have it back?" He did not want the director of Easter to find out about his mistake, or else it would mean he would have to talk to him in his office, and that brought unpleasant thoughts to his head, causing him shiver a little as he could already hear the director's angry voice directed at him.

Ulquiorra took another glance at the egg. He needed answers, and he was going to receive some.

"What is an X-egg?" Ulquiorra asked. This caused the scientist's eyebrow to raise. How can somebody of his age not know about X-eggs, yet able to catch one in a split second? He can obviously see the eggs, so it must mean he may of had an egg when he was young. Maybe he forgot about his guardian angel as he aged? No, somebody who had a guardian angel would never forget him or her. He looked at him with the utmost curiosity. He wore a white hakama and coat with a black sash and had very pale skin. The sword also brought attention, but that was not his main focus. He also noticed the half helmet Ulquiorra wore, but the one thing that grabbed his attention was his facial expression. That frown of his will be burned into the scientist skull because it was just uncomfortable to look at for extended periods of time. After recollecting his thoughts, he returned to the main question at hand.

"You don't know what an X-egg is? I find that very surprising for a person your age. Well, an X-egg is…"

"Tsukumo, what is going on?! Why are you not in the laboratory?!" The voice of the director caused Tsukumo to almost drop his earpiece. This was why he wanted to catch the X-egg because he knew the director would be visiting him later in the night, but the director must have moved his visitation to now. This caused him to straighten his poster to speak with the director with the utmost respect because he did not want to yelled at.

"Well, Director, you see, one of the eggs... managed to escape…" Tsukumo delayed while he was twiddling his fingers..

"WHAAAAAAT!"

"Buuuut," Tsukumo interrupted. "We were able to recapture it before it left Easter's vicinity. Actually, somebody else caught it for us." Tsukumo explained.

'"Who caught it?" the director demanded.

Tsukumo looked at Ulquiorra, still gripping the egg in his hands.

"I don't know his name, but he was able to capture the X-egg with his hands in an instant." Tsukumo explained.

"With his bare hands you say? Hmmmm. Bring him to my office. I want to have a talk with this mystery figure. Also, I want you to meet me in my office as soon as the sun rises. We have a lot to discuss." the director added. Tsukumo then heard the sound of the static, ending the communication with the director. Tears moving at a high speed fled his eyes for he knew that he was in trouble.

Tsukumo then called out to the pale-white person standing before him.

"If you come with me, the director will be able answer any questions you might have." he stated.

Ulquiorra took a minute to analyze the people in front of him and the building. He was not sensing anything that can be a threat to him. The only thing he could sense is the egg located in his hand, but that was hardly a threat.

"Very well. I shall accompany you for the sake of my questions about these X-eggs." he responded.

"Okay, but first, can you hand me the egg? It is part of an experiment I am conducting."

Ulquiorra walked up to him, placed his hand over Tsukumo's open hand, and released the egg from his grip. Tsukumo gave a slight smile, but was returned with the frown constantly present on Ulquiorra's face. He lead him into the building, so he can go to the director's office on the top floor.

* * *

A dark, unfamiliar sensation creeped into the room slowly until it was something that sleep cannot stubbornly ignore. Amu's eyes jolted open upon this surge draping over her entire body. She likes her sleep, and usually nothing could wake her from her dreams except the light of the morning sun rising, but this was a special occasion. She brought her body up, and was not surprised to find Ran, Miki, and Su already awake and responding to this sensation. She found them staring out of the window, trying to pinpoint where this sensation was coming from. Ran noticed Amu from the corner of her eye.

"Amu-chan," Ran exclaimed, "Can you feel what we're feeling?"

"Yes, oddly enough." She usually have her guardian angels inform her when the presence of an X-egg was nearby, but she didn't need them for this because she could feel that this sensation was powerful; why else would she be able to feel it. X-eggs don't generate enough negative emotions for Amu to detect them on her own, so whatever is producing it is a problem for Amu if she is feeling some sort of energy on her own.

"I don't know how to describe this sensation. It has some of the qualities of an X-egg, but has something else mixed into it." Miki lectured. "Whatever it is, it is something I have never felt before."

"I don't like this feeling," Su chipped in. "It does not feel good, but rather sad. It is making me feel sad." Sad was all that Su can think of; there wasn't a better word Su can conjure that can accurately explain this phenomena.

This sensation sent chills up all their spines. Their skin began to get goosebumps, and a cold feeling emanated from within them. It was 69 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) in Amu's room, and they were feeling cold just by this aura of this strange miasa of "sad" energy.

They all stood there motionless, taking in this feeling of sadness and hoped that it will eventually pass. It made them feel depressed the longer their bodies were submerged in this strange aura, and then, without warning, it disappeared. They all stood still until they recollected their minds to comprehend the situation at hand.

"What do you think that feeling was?" Ran asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it can't be good. That's for sure." Amu replied with a serious, yet sad tone.

The guardian angels eyes began to succumb to the forces of sleep; their eyelids became heavier by every passing second. "It late," Miki interjected. "We can figure all this out in the morning."

"I agree." Ran exclaimed "Me too." Su supported. All three floated back to their respective eggs to slept the rest of the night away. Only Amu remained awake in her dark room. She laid back down to get some rest, but she couldn't because of the event that transpired. She tried her hardest to be taken by the night into her dreams, but she was bugged by the miasa of strange power, and it would not allow her to sleep. _What was that? It didn't feel like an X-egg, but it felt like it resembled one in a way._ She pulled her covers over her head to help her sleep, but she knew that she wasn't going to get any sleep. She knew her day was going to be terrible. She didn't think so; She knew, and that is the reason why she could not fall back to sleep.

"I wonder if anyone else felt it?" She whispered.


	2. Ch 2 Explicación

**A/N I was planning to release this story on Wednesday (July 8, 2015), but since it is the celebration of the founding of our country, I though that it would be fun to post this chapter earlier. For this chapter, I feel that I could have done this chapter better; I revised it (twice) and edited it, but I feel that it can be improved. Anyways, enjoy!**

 **Ch. 2 Explicación**

The upward motion of the elevator stopped suddenly, and the elevator doors opened on the 20th floor, presenting a long, well-lit hallway with some shadow spot where the lights couldn't reach. The hallway had a red carpeting on the floor, and the walls had redwood planks coated with plastic to give off a shine when light hits upon it. It did look as if Easter is a successful business to Ulquiorra to have such decorations on the floors and walls. Tsukumo took a step out of the elevator and Ulquiorra was not far behind. The hallway was a considerable size; it was not Las Noches big, but big enough that they can hear their own footsteps echo off the walls. There was no conversation between the two of them because Tsukumo felt uneasy around Ulquiorra. He gave off some bad vibe that he did not like, and it stopped from making any small conversation. Plus, Ulquiorra does not look like the type of person who enjoys small talk. Tsukumo finally stopped at the location of interest. He stopped in front of a big, oak double door with intricate designs on them. Beside the doors, there was a sign that read "Director's office." Tsukumo took a deep breath and told Ulquiorra to stay where he was until he gave him the okay to enter. He carefully cracked the doors open to make sure that he didn't disturb the director if he was doing something important, but it was a waste of time because the doors made a horrible screeching sound. Apparently, one is suppose to open these types of doors at a moderate speed or else he will create a screeching sound the slower the door opens. Tsukumo can not catch a break.

"Director," Tsukumo stated quietly. "I have brought the person you wanted to see."

"Very good, Tsukumo. Have him come in and leave us be." the director replied.

Tsukumo walked out of the room and stepped aside, and extended his right arm in a downward diagonal direction, showing him to enter. Ulquiorra entered, the door closed shut, and Tsukumo headed back to his lab with Manta and Chichimura to prepare for the director's wrath for letting an X-egg escape.

The director's office had at the very other end of the room a wall-sized window that allowed moonlight to traverse it, providing enough light to see. The room still had a shadow cast upon it, so only half the room was showered with moonlight. On the dark side, only Ulquiorra was there. On the other side, a desk and three chairs persisted. Two on the front side of the desk, and a big, revolving, comfy chair on the opposite before to the window wall. The desk itself only had a computer with a keyboard, a desk lamp, and a cup full of pens. The revolving chair had its back toward Ulquiorra, signifying that the person on it is staring out the window, having a view of a foggy city with bright lights shining through the mist. These lights almost acted like they were beacons when camouflaged by the fog.

The chair slowly revolved around and revealed the figure hiding behind the chair.

This person looked like he was in his mid 40's from his skin starting to wrinkle up. This showed that he has worked for a very long time and intends to continue working until probably his death. He wore a professional business suit, and from the looks of it, it may be a from something only people with opulence can obtain. This tiny detail may mean nothing to anybody, but to Ulquiorra, it showed that he is willing to do what it takes to ensure that business has been done-a hard worker. The expression on his face was one of a critical thinker, and had a frown. Ulquiorra could see that this man was analyzing him, studying him as to find anything that might be helpful to him, or harmful to Ulquiorra. He could tell this because he, too , was studying the person in front of him. This man controlled scientist and had business with things that Ulquiorra considers helpful because it dealt with the supernatural.

The director was intrigued by the person in front of him. He wore some of the strangest clothing he has ever seen. This told the director that he may be some kind of cosplayer, but no cosplayer can catch an egg with his bare hands at a moment's notice. Also, it reminded him of the Guardians, and how they go into strange outfits to gain power when they perform their character transformations. Nevertheless, there was something to him that kept gnawing at the director, something that kept on telling him that he was not normal. The director placed his elbows on the table and placed his fingers in between the opening in the other hand to cover his mouth.

"Welcome to Easter." he said. "I am Easter's director, Kazuomi Hoshina, and I would like to thank you for cleaning up my subordinates' mess earlier by capturing that X-egg for them. I swear, they can be idiots most of the time and barely useful." he grunted.

Ulquiorra walked out of the shadows, entering the moonlit side of the office. He was unfazed by the director's welcome, so he stood silent to be polite so he can let out his frustration. They waited there for ten seconds until Ulquiorra voiced in his thoughts.

"I can understand your frustrations about your subordinates, but that is not the reason why I agreed to come. I came here to understand the situation at hand and receive answers about this world."

The tone of his voice somewhat offended the director. He could not believe someone-dressed like a cosplayer-was speaking to him in that tone, but he let it go because he was quite interested in this person. The clothing, the demeanor, they both appealed to the director.

"All right, but first, what is your name?" he asked. "I prefer to talk to people with a name."

"Ulquiorra Cifer." he responded.

"Ulquiorra Cifer. All right. I want to discuss something you said earlier. 'Receive answers about this world.' Do you mind elaborating what you meant?" The director leaned back in his chair and waited patiently for Ulquiorra to respond.

That response did answer some of the questions Ulquiorra had. Just by the director's questioning of his origins, it told him that he and probably everybody else were unaware of the other realms that existed. He studied him some more, and his analysis revealed that there was a possibility that he was in a different human realm; one that is not connected to the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. If this human realm was connected, then both the Soul Society's Research and Development and Szayelaporro Granz, the eighth Espada and researcher for Aizen, would have records of these X-eggs, and Ulquiorra would have read up on them. Ulquiorra's witz was quite superior if he was able to understand that there was a chance that he was in a different human realm.

"I am not from this world. I reside in a world called Hueco Mundo." Ulquiorra stated.

"Hueco Mundo. What is that? I have never heard of it." The director couldn't help but believe that this world he's from was somehow related to Spain or Mexico because the name of this place did sound like it utilized the Spanish language.

Ulquiorra took a deep breath, and let his breath escape slowly. He pulled his right hand from his pocket and slowly raised it to his right eye. His fingers plunged into his socket, causing the director to gasp and stand up straight more in his chair at the gruesome scene he had to witness. It was made even more horrendous when the squishy sounds of a hands digging into an eye socket attacked the director's ears.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted, believing that this person was insane if he was going to rip his own eye from his socket.

A large "pluck" emanated when Ulquiorra ripped out his own eye, holding it in front of the director, with his eyes wide. The director flinched when he saw Ulquiorra's hand clench hard and fast, causing the eyeball to explode. Instead of blood and gore dripping from his hand as one might expect, sparkly dust instead scattered into the air. The director looked about the room, seeing the sparkling dust expand to the entire volume of the semi-dark office.

An image of a desert landscape filled with white sand and lifeless sticks for trees with a crescent-shape moon and a black background for the sky formed in the director's head.

"This is Hueco Mundo; the land of the hollows. It consist of white, endless sand as far as the eye can see. It also has a moon that never sets or rises, causing it to always be night time there." The director amazed at this image in his head that magically generated when the sparkling dust came in contact with him. First, there was another world, but what came to be more of a surprise was the fact that a lifeless wasteland had the potential to harbor life.

"Land of the Hollows. You say that as if I know what a hollow is. Tell me, what is a hollow?" interjected the director.

A picture of a fox-shaped monster with a white mask appeared in the director's mind. This monster had razor-sharp claws protruding from its paws. It had a long, slender tail with a spiked ball at the end. Its fangs were black with streaks of red scattered around. Its entire body was covered in a black fur. But the most-intriguing aspect of this monster was the hole located right in the middle of its chest.

"This is a hollow; a fallen human soul who could not find salvation from this world, thus turning into this fox-like monster before you. One can recognize a hollow by its white mask and hole located in the center of its chest." The image then faded into a human-shaped silhouetted figure, but a white hole persisted right in the middle of the chest.

"The hole in a hollow's chest is a representation that the heart has been removed and only raw instinct is left. It is a hollow's curse to roam around between Hueco Mundo and the human realm in search of other souls to devour to satisfy its insatiable hunger. In other words, it must feed in order to fill the bottomless void created when becoming a hollow." Soon, the image in the directors minds faded and nothing else appeared, signifying that Ulquiorra was finished with his explanation; however, the director felt that the information shared with him was only a fraction of the knowledge, meaning that there was other vital information that Ulquiorra was withholding from him. Nevertheless, that was a lot and new information learned by the director, so he took a minute to process all of it. Anyone else would have thought that this man before him was crazy, but since the director had the privilege to learn from Ulquiorra's memories by extracting his own eye from his socket and crushing it into a dust to make the director see his memories, it would make him insane not to believe in these monsters. The sparkling dust began to fade from the room. The next thing was a surprise to the director. He saw the reformation of Ulquiorra's destroyed eye begin. Soon, his lost eye was restored, showing that he had regenerative abilities to the director. The director's eyes met with Ulquiorra's.

"If there are monsters like that roaming around, then what does that make you? You may look human, but clearly you are not human if you can take your eyeball out and regenerate it at a surprising speed?" the director pointed out.

Ulquiorra took his left hand and unzipped his coat. There lied a perfect circular hole right in the middle of his upper chest. The director gasped. _He has a hole in his chest, making him a hollow, but he does not look like the fox-monster I saw earlier._

"I will explain the hole and why I do not look like the hollows seen some other time. I have shared with you what I am, and now, it is your turn to answer my questions, and it starts with what an X-egg is." Ulquiorra retorted.

Silence remained in the room because the director wanted to know more, but it would be unfair for only him to explain what he is. The director sighed.

"Very well, but first let me explain to you what a heart's egg is." Ulquiorra remained motionless. "Inside the hearts of children and adults, there lies an egg. This egg is fueled by the hopes and dreams of the child. Normal people cannot see this egg, and children also cannot see them; however, there are those that give birth to their heart's egg, then the egg will hatch, allowing for the child to see other heart's eggs. Only children will give birth to a heart's egg; adults cannot." He saw that Ulquiorra's expression has not changed; he must not find it interesting or important, but in actuality, Ulquiorra found some some interest in theses eggs mostly because he believes that it is this heart's egg that is allowing for regular people to possibly see him.

"What resides inside a heart's egg?" questioned Ulquiorra.

"A child's would-be self."

"What is that?" he demanded.

"Their would-be self is the person the child actually wants to be. If the child has enough desire, the egg will hatch into a guardian angel, and it will guide the child to their dreams, in this case, the person they want to be when they grow up. Once their dream has been achieved, then the guardian angel will disappear, but the child will still be able to see heart's eggs for the rest of their life."

 _A manifestation of their true personality_ is what Ulquiorra was able to puzzle together. He understands that these eggs help the people who are in distress, or in other words, those people who are weak, that they need a push in order to chase their lofty desire-he was not made the fourth espada just for his strength; he was cunning, knowledgeable, and can piece clues together. But all this revolved around a concept that was unknown to him… heart. He can't comprehend what this heart is. This concept of heart and dreams reverted Ulquiorra back to his memories of his talk with that woman, Orihime Inoue.

"My Heart is with them."

 _ **Ridiculous...**_

 _A heart is nothing more than an organ that pumps blood throughout the body, but humans have changed this meaning to fit these 'instances' where the concept of heart is reassuring to humans_. _There is nothing special about the heart. It is just a sorry excuse to cope with the harsh realities a person comes in contact with._

Then he remembered his philosophy of life...

 _If I cannot see it, then it does not exist. I have seen these eggs from the heart, but I yet to see an actual heart itself. Where is it? Orihime Inoue, were you actually scared, or did you use the concept of heart to handle the reality that you and all your friends were going to die?_ After this brief moment of self reflecting, Ulquiorra returned to the topic at hand.

"And what about these X-egg?" added in Ulquiorra.

"When a person begins to encounter doubt in their heart, or feeling the futility with his dreams, a big X will mark the egg, signifying that the bearer has given up and is faced with the reality that their dream is impossible _._ Usually, these people who have an X-egg look like they always have tired expression in their faces, and just wander around, and their eyes only express emptiness." The director took a deep breath to show that he was done talking. Ulquiorra has not moved from his position ever since self reflection about the concept of heart, but he was listening carefully to the director's explanation, and decided to add in his own opinions about the X-eggs.

"These X-eggs are nothing short of miraculous. Judging from the power I felt from the one I caught, It is safe to say that these eggs are worthless. The negative energy exhibited is no where near a hundredth of my power. However, I can draw similarities between the X-egg energy of that to a hollow, but there are more differences than similarities. I deduce that anyone whose egg is branded with an X must have a weak will; they are not strong enough to keep their ideals from being compromised; therefore, they is trash."

The director's eyes again met with Ulquiorra's piercing eyes. _This man is very callous, and yet, he is very observant. Just from what I told him, he was able to deduce much information about heart's eggs and X-eggs. But also, he compared the X-eggs power to himself, and says that they are no where near his power. Does this person actually have immense amount of power? If so, just how much power does this person have? I will have to tell Gozen about this, but first…_

Kazuomi Hoshina was genuinely intrigued by the man before him. He is cunning, observant, callous, and feels that he has something to offer if Easter were to gets its hands on him. The one feature that stood out to Kazuomi Hoshina is Ulquiorra's demeanor. So unmoved, so blunt, so emotionless. It is almost as if the person discarded his emotions, and probably his heart because he felt that they were useless and unneeded, like they were a liability. The director got all of that just by the conversation he is having with Ulquiorra. The next question out of Ulquiorra's mouth made the director even more intrigued.

"Tell me, why do you collect X-eggs. Now that I felt the energy of an X-egg, I can feel a collection of X-eggs being stored at the very bottom of this building. They serve no purpose; they provide hardly any power, and yet, you are collecting them for a particular reason. Why?" Ulquiorra knew he hit something because the director swiveled his seat so that the back of the chair was facing Ulquiorra-he wanted to hide his surprisement because he knew they were storing X-eggs and he can tell from the top floor.

"We, Easter, are searching of a very special heart's egg called the Embryo." He paused, trying to add effect. "The Embryo has the ability to grant wishes." He said this as he was turning back his chair to face Ulquiorra again. Again, he showed no sign of surprise, or any facial expression; that same frown was still there.

"Grant wishes, you say?" he questioned

"Yes. We are hunting for the Embryo, and it lies within the heart of a child. So we go around and extract the egg from the child. If the child does not have the Embryo, then it is considered worthless, so we clean up our mess by destroying the X-egg. But we have found that we can use the X-eggs to our advantage and use their power for our purposes. Think of it as an unlimited power source that we can tap into at anytime." The director grinned as he thought about the 'purposes' for X-eggs.

The night began to take its toll on the director, so it was time for him to ask Ulquiorra the question.

"After the recent exchanges of dialogue, I feel that you still need more answers about this world, so I'll be blunt, would you like to work for Easter. I feel that with your help, we can obtain the Embryo much faster? Also, you can learn more about this world as you help us achieve our goals"

Ulquiorra was not expecting this kind of offer. He did not know how he ended up in this world, so technically he was still loyal to Lord Aizen. However, seeing that he doesn't have the luxury of returning to Hueco Mundo, Ulquiorra felt that it would be beneficial for him to join Easter, but first, he had to learn about the benefits of joining. Remember that Ulquiorra is very cunning, so it would be unwise for him to join Easter if he did not know what he was getting himself into.

"What are my advantages of joining Easter?"

"I usually don't offer this, but you will have the chance to become powerful in this world; Easter can assure you of that." the director was essentially lying to him because the purpose of finding the Embryo was for Gozen, but for now, he thought that an empty promise will be enough to make Ulquiorra join.

Ulquiorra had no intention of obtaining more power. The offer the director gave him was nothing short of unappealing, but since he has no way of returning, he felt that joining would be the most logical thing for him to do. With Easter, he can find out more answers about this human world and see how it works. It was his choice, and he was going to take it.

"I have no interest in gaining any more power, but I understand that in my current situation, it would be most logical for me to join Easter's ranks and learn more about this world I am trapped in." Ulquiorra explained, knowing full well that Easter will be relying on him for their work, but he didn't care; it would just mean more learning for him about this world.

"Wonderful. I will inform my higher up about your hiring. I know that with your help, we will retrieve the Embryo much faster. I would like you to come back here in the afternoon. There, you will meet the others who are also trying to find the Embryo. I will introduce you to all of them, and then we can talk about strategy." The director stood up from his chair, and offered his hand to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra knew that it was a custom for people to shake hands once a deal has been struck. He would oblige with that rule, so he pulled out his right hand from his pocket, and extended it to shake the director's hand.

"I will return to this building in the afternoon."

Ulquiorra turned around and proceed to the door. He opened it and left. The director sat back in his chair and swiveled his chair back in the previous position he had it when Ulquiorra first entered the room. He looked at the straight into the thick fog, seeing only the faded lights shining through. Then he muttered something under his breath, something ominous that would foreshadow much distress in the near future.

"The Guardians won't be able to stand against Easter for much longer. With the new hired employee, we will crush them under our might, and they will never be a thorn to Easter ever again."


	3. Ch 3 Caution

**Just for you information, for some reason, the website won't let me type in a dash (its two hyphens [-] together, so when you see a hyphen where one does not belong, its a dash. Also, my free time has been severely limited due to work, so there might be more delays in the future for the story. Anyway, enjoy. Also, my romance stuff is not well-developed so watch for that.**

 **Ch. 3 Caution**

The sun finally began to peak out from its slumber and allowed sunshine to flourish slowly all over the land, overtaking the dark skies. Some of this sunshine slipped through the curtains and pounded against the sleep-deprived Amu. She just managed to fall asleep after agonizing the night away wondering what she possibly felt. But alas, it was a school day, and she knew her parents will not allow her to stay home today because she couldn't sleep. She was reluctant at first, but she mustered up the energy to arise from her bed. She turned to her left and saw her shugo chara getting up from a good night's sleep. She was envious that her shugo charas managed to sleep through the night while she was being tortured by the thought of that sensation.

" **Good morning, Amu-chan!** " Ran shrieked with her hyper energy. Amu reacted to her scream by clenching her eyes shut and bringing her hands straight to ears in attempt to block out the noise.

"Whoa, Amu-chan, it looks like you did not get a good night's sleep." Ran voiced in.

"More like not getting any sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about that sensation we all felt in the middle of the night." The room fell quiet. Seriousness began to fill the room as they all remembered that feeling.

"Do you think any of the other guardians felt it." Miki questioned.

"I would think so. If I was able to feel that without your guy's help, then I suppose that the other Guardians would have felt it also." She slightly turned her head and said under her breath, "I wonder if any of them managed to sleep through that."

"Amu-chan, look at the time, it is almost time to go to school." Su stressed.

Amu gave off an exaggerated sigh and jumped out of bed in preparation for school. She quickly got out of her pajamas and switched to her school uniform: a white, collared shirt with a belt over her stomach. She had a black blazer over it, accompanied by a red tie, along with a red, checkered skirt and stockings to finish the image. She may have looked prepared physically, but her mind was too tired to do anything; she was essentially running on the fumes of her fumes. When she got downstairs, her parents noticed how horrible she looked. Her eyes expressed a gloomy look that accompanies exhaustion, and deep, black bags ran from under her eyes. Her parents asked her if she was alright. Amu told them that she had a bad nightmare, and it was difficult for her to sleep well. Her parents gave a quick glance at each other and gave a shrug and thought nothing more of it.

She skipped breakfast and headed for school. She was basically a vampire because her eyes became irritated with the barrage of sunlight smacking her due to the lack of sleep. She had to squint her eyes and brought her hand to her forehead so she is not blinded by the light. She had to navigate the whole way to school like that. On her way there, she almost tripped three times and bumped into a person. The reason for this is her mind will still preoccupied with the sensation she felt during the night. _What was that feeling I felt. Could it have been an X-egg, an abundance of X-eggs in a single area? No, what I felt was something more than just X-eggs. I can't explain it, but the word that comes to mind is…_ Her though was cut short as she bumped into yet another person. She regained her composure, bowed, and expressed passionately,

"I'm sorry, my bad." Nothing was said. She decide to take a peek at who she bumped into and sure enough, it was a certain blonde-hair boy with red-violet eyes standing in front of her.

"I forgive you, Hinamori-san."

"T-Tadase-kun!" Her cheeks flooded with blood upon the sight of him. Heat started to generate around her entire body due to the embarrassment of running into Tadase, but also at the thought of her touching him. It was during the midst of her embarrassment that she took a closer look at her surrounding and discovered that she was in front of the school's gates. She must have been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she must have made it to school by her familiarity of the path she takes.

"Hinamori-san, You don't look so good. Are you getting a cold?" Tadase asked concerned.

"No, no, its not that. I just... couldn't get enough sleep is all."

"Why?" he asked. She hesitated, but she knew that he would understand if she told him about the the sensation last night.

"I... felt something last night, and it did not feel right. Did you happen to feel anything last night that was not normal? " He grew silent. She could see his tender smile fade and a serious expression dominating his smile.

"Well, actually, I..."

"Gooooood Mooorning, Amu-chi!" Yaya's screams of joy echoed throughout the area. She zigzag her way through the crowd of students, almost tripping, and jumped at Amu to give her a big, fat hug. Typical Yaya.

"Amu-chi, why do you look so horrible? It looks like you did not get enough sleep?" She was going to respond, but...

"You're right. She just got telling me that she couldn't sleep during the night." Tadase chipped in. _What was he going to say._ The curiosity started to nibble away at Amu's mind. _Did he feel that sensation, or was he going to explain that he did not feel anything?_ She was going crazy in her mind; she was tired, and she wanted to go to sleep, so her not knowing what he was going to say chipped at her more than usual if she was well-rested.

The rings of the bell made it known that class was about to start. They all hussled to their classroom, thus separating when they reached the hallways. Amu and Tadase both entered the classroom, and the students did not pay attention to their entering. They were all talking with their friends about their lives. Laughter can be heard coming from one corner of the room, and convenient conversation from the other. It brought a little happiness to Amu seeing her classmates enjoying themselves and had the privilege to not go through what she had to go through. Amu and Tadase proceeded to their seats. Looking around, she spotted Rima sitting her desk.

"Good morning, Rima. How are you today?" asked Amu.

"Nevermind me, What's wrong with you? You look horrible." pointed out Rima with Kusukusu giggling.

"I couldn't get enough sleep, or no sleep as a matter of fact." She replied. It was natural for Rima to ask why, and she told her that it was due to a nightmare she had. Amu did not have the heart to tell her about that sensation she felt...yet.

Amu couldn't understand why she did not explain her experience to Rima. Maybe it's because She did not want to go through that experience again by talking about it in vivid detail; it only lasted for a while, yet it felt that it lasted an eternity. Then she thought that maybe they did feel it, but they were avoiding talking about it because, again, it was too horrible to talk about. Or maybe, they brushed it off like her guardian angels did during the night. In any case, she was probably overthinking it since she was sleep-deprived. Whether or not her friends felt that sensation was going to drive her crazy, so she thought that she will bring it up during a Guardian meeting today after school.

The second bell rang, and Yuu Nikaidou waltzed into the class carrying a scary load of books that towered over him that almost hit the ceiling.

"Alright class, I want you all to pull out your math book and turn to page whoooaaaaa!"

The room shook, and the results were books scattered everywhere, and Nikaido's entire body was on the floor covered in books. An uproar soon followed as the entire class laughed at Nikaido and his clumsiness. It seems that the term schadenfreude can be described in this scene as the class finds Nikaidou's misfortune their pleasure. Amu could not help but face palm. She wondered how this klutz of a man use to be their enemy. Aside from all that, it seems that her day was not going to be as loathsome as she thought.

Despite being sleep-deprived, the day was not as horrible as she expected. She actually managed to stay awake in Nikaidou's lecture about dividing fractions. She found herself surprised that she managed not to faceplant on her desk due to extreme sleepiness, though, there were times when she did nod off and sleep for 5 minutes like during English, lunch, and art. The only thing that remained was the Guardian meeting. There, they can discuss important matters like student affairs and X-egg hunting. This could possibly be a chance for Amu to explain everything to them about her experience. As always, the people who attended these meetings were Amu, Tadase, Rima, Yaya, and Nagihiko, along with their shugo charas, Ran, Miki, Su, Kiseki, Pepe, and Kusukusu. The shugo charas didn't do any work; they just play around while their bearers have to do long, boring work.

Everything was going fine, until

"Ahhhhhhhhh! This is soooo boooring! I want to leave and eat ice cream! Leave and eat! Leave and eat!. Yaya whined as her voice became more squeaker from each passing sentence..

"We can't Yaya." answered Tadase. "Because we still have one very important matter to discuss."

"What is it? Whatever it is, we can discuss it over ice cream." she demanded.

His expression became serious as his smile faded.

"Now that we have discussed all the school matters, it is time to talk about a more serious topic." Everyone waited in anticipation for Tadase to answer. "The event that occurred during the night." The mere utterance of that sentence stopped the playful charas in their tracks, along with the guardians. Everyone seemed to be overcome by sadness; they expressed this by lowering their eyelids and looking slightly down at the floor.

 _So I was not the only one who felt it._ Amu was both relieved and bothered at the same time because first everyone felt it, so that made her feel that she was not going crazy, and the other is everyone felt it. They must have been avoiding the mentioning of this until everyone gathered in the Royal Garden.

"I'll take everyone's silence as confirmation that everyone here felt that sensation." Tadase stated with the seriousness in his tone. "Between twelve and one, I woke up to something I felt. Whatever I felt, it was not good. I asked Kiseki about this feeling, and he said that it resembles nothing he has ever felt. It lasted only a few minutes until it disappeared without a trace. After that, I fell back to sleep and waited until we all adjourned here to talk about it." He took a sip of his tea in order to clench the tiny thirst that accumulated after his explanation.

"Hinamori-san, I am sorry that you had to suffer by not being able to sleep due to this incident. And I am sorry that we have to keep you here longer; you must be tired from today. I think it would be best if we postponed this to tomorrow." Tadase recommended.

"N-No!" Amu interjected. "It's alright. I want to talk about it now. I felt uncomfortable because I believed that nobody else felt it. If you all felt it, then I want to stay and discuss this matter. I don't care if I am super sleepy. Please, continue." Amu ended from a defiant interjection to a plead. They all looked at her because of her resolve, and they all exchanged light smiles at each other. Tadase, like everyone else, smiled back at everybody. He stood up and looked directly at Amu, causing her to go red a little.

"Okay. We will continue to talk about this, for Hinamori-san." She gave him a smile back and returned to the issue at hand.

"Like I explained earlier, Kiseki and I did not know what this sensation was. We thought it was some sort of X-egg, but that was dismissed immediately seeing that Kiseki explained it as something other than an X-egg."

"Whatever we all felt, it felt heavy." chipped in Rima, who now had everyone's attention. "This was no ordinary aroma that X-eggs give off. If we were able to feel in without the assistance from out shugo charas, then I believe that it did not come from an X-egg. When I first felt it during the night, it felt like there was something there. Something that felt like suffocation, like it was trying bring me down to my knees. But the worst part was that it had some sort of coldness to it. Even under my blankets, I found myself cold, and Kusukusu also felt cold." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement that they did find their experience cold. Amu looked at her charas, and they looked back at her. Rima's explanation was the same as her experience. There was one question left.

"Do you think Easter is behind any of this?" voiced in Nagihiko.

Again, the room feel in silence. They have faced Easter many times beforehand. They took on Nikaidou, they stopped Sanjo-san and Utah, and they prevented them from obtaining the Embryo that one time it revealed itself-the time when it looked like either Amu and Ikuto would grab it, but then a flare was launched by accident and Ikuto used his claw hand to protect Amu while holding her. All those other times, they never caused something as mysterious, yet sad as this sensation. Tadase then spoke up.

"I'm not sure if Easter had anything to do with what occurred last night, but in any case, we have to be more careful from now on. Even if Easter may not be behind it, it might be safe to say that something bad is coming, and Easter might be planning something."

The mentioning of Easter possibly having some sort of connection to the event brought Amu to think of one person who works for them… Ikuto. If anyone, he can answer the question if Easter is somehow connected to this incident. Finding him won't be easy; he usually popped in from out of no where, barging in into her business and toying with her. It will be like trying to find a stray cat in the city, so looking for him will serve her no good, so the next time he appears from out of the blue, she will ask him about if he felt the sensation. Ikuto has always been mysterious, but he always trying to help her in unconventional ways.

The sun began to disappear behind the horizon as the sky turned from a light blue to a fire-orange yellow. "We will further discuss this event in future meetings, but for now, it is time to dismiss this session and return home." ordered Tadase. Nobody voiced in any complaint, but rather complaints to leave five minutes ago from Yaya, so they cleaned up their areas and proceeded to the entry gates of the school. A black car with Rima's mom driving came to pick her up, and Nagihiko and Yaya began to walk home in one direction. So all that's left is Amu and Tadase to walk home to in the other direction together; this brought joy to Amu.

Twenty minutes have gone by, and very little was said during the walk. Tadase knew that Amu was exhausted due to her lack of sleep, so he did anything that any gentleman would do, he would escort her as far as he can to her home. Feeling that she might begin to battle staying awake, Tadase decided to reach for Amu's left hand with his right to make sure that she doesn't collapse. To Amu, she noticed a feeling on her hand, but she was too tired and didn't care what it was. When she noticed her shugo charas staring at her left hand in awe, she decided to take a peek. What she saw shocked all the sleepiness out of her. Tadase was holding her hand. The mere thought of this forced her whole body shed sweat, and her cheeks began to become redder than a stop sign. She looked at Tadase's face and was met with his dreamy eyes being complemented by the sunset.

"I thought that it would be safer if I held your hand until you got home. I don't want you to collapse due to sleep, so I thought holding your hand would be a precautionary." explained Tadase flustered as one can see his cheeks begin to redden.

"No, no, I understand. It is just a precaution." repeated Amu, even though that she believed that it was more than just a 'safety hand holding.' If she were to die, she would have no regret in this world. She was so happy and so embarrassed at the same time that her spirit began to slip out of her mouth, but Ran, Miki, and Su managed to force it back into Amu's body.

The moment that Amu dreaded when Tadase took hold of her hand was imminent: they got to the intersection where they had to part ways. Tadase lived a couple more block to the right, while Amu lived two blocks away after she goes throught the park-the same park when Ikuto played the violin and she sung. Tadase sluggishly took his hand away from hers, looking down as this was all happening. He told her that she should hurry home, else she might be too tired to continue. After that hand holding experience, one can be sure that any sleepiness within her had fled her body. He waved at her goodbye and went their separate ways. As Amu continued, the fire-orange yellow slowly was being overtaken by the cool, mellow blues of nightfall approaching. Soon, the sunset will be gone and only nightfall will endure until morning. She hurried on home because as this change of day was occurring, she could slowly feel the blades of sleepiness pierce her body, tempting her eyes to shut and relax. It was when she was in the middle of the park that nightfall won the battle, and its cloak covered the entire city. Nightfall was actually beautiful. The dark-blue skies that persisted over her was actually a sight to behold. It is a shame that the lights of the city and the streets ruined this amazing sight. She took it in before the parks lights disrupted the night. As Amu approached a certain pair of stairs in the park, she took sight of a blue-haired figure with black apparel that almost blended into the night with a silver cross tightly around his neck. He could have been standing there with nobody noticing him, but the blue hair gave him away. He slightly turned to notice Amu and let out a faint smile of mischief.

"Don't you think it's dangerous for a kid like yourself to be wandering around in the shadowy night?" he stated with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Ikuto!" Amu alerted, with some off her accumulated sleepiness ridded of.

"You look tired. Probably dreaming about naughty things again, aren't you?" Ikuto hinted.

"No! That's not why I'm tired." Amu protested, making her blush upon hearing Ikuto's explanation.

"Or Maybe... it was from dreaming about me?" he fought her protest. Her cheeks began to fill up with more blood again as she heard that retort.

"I was **not** dreaming about you!" she bickered while turning her entire body at him, but to her surprise, he was not there. She wondered where he went until a set of long arms wrapped around her from behind. She looked up and saw right in her face Ikuto's face about 10 centimeters from hers. It took a second until Amu's brained processed all this, then she let out a scream. She squirmed a lot to escape the grasp of Ikuto. She squirmed for five seconds, and she broke away from Ikuto. Unfortunately, as she broke away, she took one step too much that made her lose her balance; she was going to hit the floor face first. She closed her eyes in preparation for impact. but a sudden stop came as she no longer felt herself falling. Curious as to what it can be, she slowly opened her eyes and was greeted with the gray cement a few centimeters from her. She was turned to face the sky and was met with Ikuto's dark-blue eyes. His deep, somber eyes prevented her from looking away. She felt that Ikuto was staring right at her soul. Her shugo charas starred in awe as this romantic moment occurred. To Amu, it felt like an eternity, but soon reality kicked and she became aware of the position she was in.

"L-l-let go of me!" she demanded. Her arms and legs started flailing wildly to escape Ikuto's clutches.

He loosed his grip, and Amu striped herself away from his clutches and regained her posture. Heavy panting came from her, showing that she is exhausted both physically and mentally. He is always teasing her about these kinds of things, and it always resulted with her being exhausted physically or mentally. After everything calmed down, she asked,

"Anyway, what are you doing in the park in the middle of the night?"

"I don't know, Just staring at the skies. Why? Did you want to spend time with me?" he stated with that grinning smile of mischief.

"NO! I needed to talk to you about something important." Her tone became serious, and Ikuto noticed it, so his grinning facial expression turned into a serious one. "Last night, meaning this morning, I felt some... weird sensation that I never felt before. It felt heavy and... suffocating. Did you know where it came from." Ikuto stood silent. He turned his back to her as to avoid making any eye contact with her. Just by his reaction, she could tell that he also felt that sensation from this morning. She was certain that he might know something about it, so she begged the question more.

"Is Easter behind this." She stated. Again, he stood silent. He started to walk into the darkness of the park. She still kept her eyes on him, waiting for an answer that seemed to be nonexistent. He finally spoke up.

"I don't know." He explained. She looked at her charas, and they were all looking at each other. She did not like his answer.

"C'mon. I thought we were past this. You're always so secretive. You never tell me things, like the time that you weren't the one turning heart's eggs to X-eggs." She explained. He stop for a moment, taking in the explanation she gave him. It stood in place for ten seconds, then he continued walking towards the darkness.

"It did not originate from Easter, but Easter has something planned." He said his statement, and then he chara changed and leaped from the ground to the trees, soon vanishing from her sight. She looked disappointed. She felt that Ikuto knew more and that he is hiding something, but Ikuto is always like that, always mysterious and keen, just like when she first met him and her first encounters with him. But this instance of mysterious felt different. She felt that his warning was more filled with emotion and worry, but then again, it might be the tiredness distorting the reality from what actually happened. In any case, she was done. She did not want to do anything anymore, so she gave her last bits of energy to proceed home. All the while, Ikuto was watching her as she left her position to proceed home. He gave a "hmpf" and looked down to the ground in a 45 degree angle. He stood silent as he remembered his meeting with the director and the other agents of Easter.

* * *

 _Earlier in the Day, at Easter Company._

Ikuto found himself standing in his stepfather's office on the right of the room where one enters. He does not like the Easter building, so he tries to stay far away as possible and avoid going near it; however, his stepfather called him in and the other agent to discuss important matters. He usually blows this kind of stuff off, but he was told he had to come in or else. He had a contract with them, so it did not leave him much choice. Anyways, Ikuto was leaning on the wall and the director was in his chair, staring out the window, watching the cars outside systematically moving up and down the road with pedestrians filling up the sidewalks. The only sound both men can hear was the the clock ticking on the wall. Ikuto prefer not to talk to the director; he'd rather just stand there and let the time pass without any kind of conversation taking place unless needed.

The silence soon shattered as the sound of a doorknob jiggling began to fill the office. One of the double doors flung open, and a girl wearing a light-blue dress with blue heels and blonde hair walked into the office in a professional manner as her posture was straight. She entered the room with a stern expression because she always come to Easter in a professional manner. The director sees her as an agent, but the others don't have the same kind of thinking. Following her was her shugo chara. She wore a purple dress and has red hair with a purple sun hat over her head. Ikuto recognized her as Lulu de Morcerf and her guardian angel, Nana. Both went to the left side of the office and stood there with her arms crossed for the director to begin this meeting. Shortly after, the director slowly swiveled his chair and spoke up.

"Good. Now that everyone's here, we can go right into this meeting, but first, I like to get get a progress report. Lulu, judging that we're all here, it means that you two haven't found the Embryo."

She got in front of his desk and spoke, "It is true that I have not yet found the Embryo. Though, I can assure you that at the rate I'm going, I will be able to locate the Embryo; it is only a matter of time." She finished her report and returned back to her previous position. Nana and Yoru were with each other since they did not find their meeting that exciting. Plus, the director could not see them. The director then turned to Ikuto.

"What about you? I assume that you haven't found it either?" He stated sternly while looking at him with a piercing gaze.

"Nothing." Ikuto said monotonous. Ikuto prefers that he keeps his conversation with his stepfather as short as possible. He does not want to waste any words that aren't needed on him; straight to the point. The director did not find any of this surprising. Ikuto was his puppet, and puppets have their limits-that just means that he'll have to work him harder, but enough on that. As far as searching for the Embryo, he knew that it would take a significant amount of time for two people, or children in his eyes, to find the elusive Embryo; however, that number is going to go up to three.

"That is enough of a report for today." he stated. "I would like to move on to other business. First, we know that our plans to locate the Embryo have been foiled multiple times by the Guardians. They have gone as far as making some of our previous agents defect from Easter. They remain a threat to Easter. That is why I would like to announce that I have a new agent to assist Easter finding the Embryo. From the looks of it, he shows promise, and I would like both of you to answer any question he may have in regards to his objective about the Embryo or anything else about hearts eggs."

Ikuto and Lulu both shot a glance at each other, and returned to the director's gaze. Lulu spoke up. "Does this person not have the ability to see the heart's eggs?"

"From what I can tell, he has the ability, but he has little knowledge about what they are. I finished explaining to him the general idea of a heart's egg last night. As a matter of fact, you may come in now." ordered the director.

Both doors slowly opened, and what appeared made Ikuto, Yoru, Lulu, and Nana widen their eyes. A scary-pale, muscular, thin figure with a white hakama, black sash, and white coat with two long coattails extending almost to the floor walked into the office. He had messy black hair with a bang located between his eyes. Along with his head, he wore half a bone-white "helmet" on the left side of his head, along with a unique horn protruding from the "helmet," and the helmet extended almost all the way to his shoulders. He had emerald-green eyes with small-shaped pupils resembling something like a cat. What ran down his eyes were green lines-they thought those lines represented tears. He also had an upper black lip. They did not know if he was wearing makeup or if that is how pale his skin was, but they did feel that this person is quite the enigma. He walked forward and got in front of the director's desk with Ikuto on his right and Lulu on his left. He turned his head both directions to obtain a better look of the two. He did not get a lot of information just by glancing at them, but he aquired some simple assumptions that would be beneficial for him in the future. Going back to everyone else, what disturbed them the most was that blank stare with that frown to add to the discomfort. They all knew that his facial impression would be burned into their memories.

Remember, Ulquiorra is suppressing his spiritual pressure, so they could not feel his immense power, but that could not be said the same for Yoru and Nana. Even if he was suppressing his power, the proximity the guardian angels were in was close enough to pick up on his power. They did not feel the full extent of his power, but they felt enough to make them shudder. They floated to their respective bearer to hide behind them because they did not like the feeling they were receiving from Ulquiorra. To them, It felt similar to the event from this morning, but the sensation was significantly decreased. Ulquiorra was aware of this when they went to hide behind their owners. He knew that he would not be able to suppress his spiritual pressure all the way; if a person who can pick up on his power is two or three meters away, then they would be able to sense his spirit energy.

"Lulu, Ikuto, I would like to introduce you to Easter's new employee, Ulquiorra Cifer. I hired him last night and has already signed a contract with Easter." The director explained. Ulquiorra remained silent. In fact, the whole room remained dead-silent, waiting for someone to break the ice. Finally, a voice interrupted the silence.

"Nice to meet you, Ulquiorra. I'm Lulu de Morcerf. I hope that we can help each other in the future." sticking out her hand to shake his.

Ulquiorra was reluctant, but he finally extended his hand to shake Lulu's hand. He knew that shaking hands was customary for human to greet one another. Back in Las Noches, nobody greeted one another; all the espadas made sure to stay out of their way and vise versa. Why else do all of the Espada have their own palace in Las Noches? After she released his hand, he placed it back in his pocket and continued to stare in front of him, giving the director his attention. Everyone else soon followed.

"Now that we have three people looking for the Embryo, I expect to see some improvement. I don't want this job to take too long. Gonzo is starting to get impatient, but he will manage to keep his impatience at bay." The director looked at everyone, especially Ikuto, and said nothing after his speech. Ulquiorra noticed that his staring was more directed at Ikuto, raising his curiosity towards the blue-haired person. For some particular reason, Ikuto kind of reminded him of Grimmjow.

"Is that all?" Ulquiorra asked.

"That is all. You may all leave." One by one they left. First is was Ulquiorra, then Lulu, and lastly, Ikuto, after he exchanged some glances with his stepfather.

* * *

 _On top of Easter's roof…_

"I don't like the new guy. He gives me the creeps, nya." Yoru said concerned.

"Why does he scare you?" Ikuto asked, staring out into the city.

"Its because I could feel something coming from him." he answered

"What do you mean?" Ikuto questioning Yoru.

"Well, When he came into the room, Nana and I were able to feel some sort of... power coming from him. It is something I have never felt, nya. If I had to guess, it resembled something like an X-egg, but different. It felt like the sensation we felt in the morning, but weaker, yet still powerful, nya."

 _Meanwhile, at the bottom floor of Easter in the Lobby..._

"What do you mean different?" Lulu asked. She was beginning to become curious about this Ulquiorra figure. She only shook his hand to make her seem that she is nice, but judging by the expression he gave, he could have cared less if she would have insulted him. But Nana was right, there was something off about him that grabbed her attention. She did not feel his power, but she had a gut feeling that he was hiding something. Nana continued on.

"I don't know how to explain it. It did not feel like an X-egg exactly, but there was something there, something heavy. It is almost as if this heavy feeling was trying to suffocate me."

 _Back on the roof…_

"Are you saying that Ulquiorra might have a shugo chara or a heart's egg?" questioned Ikuto.

"No. By the feeling I felt, it felt in no way that he could be a bearer of a heart's egg because no heart's egg would ever give off the sensation I felt from him. The impression I got was…"

 _Back in the lobby…_

"Hopelessness." Nana reluctantly stated with a depressed look plastered on her face. "The sensation I felt coming from him was somehow the same from this morning, but not has potent. It felt like it was similar to what an X-egg gives off, but different. An X-egg is suppose to be a representation that the bearer has given up on his dreams, thus turning the egg into an X-egg. The sensation I felt coming from him felt heavier, like it was trying to inject into me sadness just by being near him."

"I don't understand, Nana." She voiced

"What I mean is that the sensation he gave off was so... sad that it felt like it was trying to return me back into my egg, even though you are not in any doubt." Nana explained. Upon hearing this, Lulu let out a big 'gulp' with a serious, somber expression. Then she remembered that he is working for Easter, so this gave her some relief because she knows that he is suppose to be on her side. She can't help the fact that Ulquiorra, from Nana's description, sounds dangerous, especially for Easter's enemies. This thought brought Amu to her mind. She was against Easter's actions, and she and the Guardians are deemed Easter's rival to finding the Embryo. Amu was her archrival, but she can't help but feel worried for her. She is the enemy, and she is worried for her enemy. This kind of thinking bothered Lulu. She walked out of the building to be greeted with the rays of sunlight that shined over her. This sunshine was not enough to break Lulu's pensive thinking about today's events. She aggressively shook her head, slapped her cheeks and said out loud,

"Why am I thinking about this. Amu and her Guardians are my rivals, along with Easter, so I should not let this get to me. My concern is finding the Embryo for Mama so that she can regain her former radiance when she was an actor. And besides, Ulquiorra does not look like he is capable of doing anything different than what I do. I highly doubt that he will kill the Guardians and Amu." Upon saying that, her ranting immediately ceased because she did not know what this Ulquiorra is capable of. From the way Nana describes him and his appearance, he looked like he would be a problem for her, Amu, the Guardians, and for some reason, Easter. She continued to the sidewalk and proceeded to head home, where seeing her mother might cheer her up from today's events.

 _Back on the roof…_

Ikuto did not react to anything Yoru just explained… on the outside. Inside, he was shock by everything Yoru had explained. Ikuto does a fantastic job in not showing his feelings on the inside; he always put up a relaxed demeanor to make sure nobody worried. But still, the description of Ulquiorra made Ikuto worry about all sorts of things. What is he capable of? What kind of power he had? Why did he join Easter? All were good questions, but there was one important question that pestered him the most... Amu. By him joining Easter, it automatically makes Amu and Ulquiorra enemies. He is unsure about how all this can turn out. He knew that Amu was powerful, but from Yoru descriptions, Ulquiorra was also powerful, though he did not need Yoru to tell him that Ulquiorra was power. The moment he ominously entered into the director's office, Ikuto knew that this new person was indeed someone to worry about. Call it a hunch, but Ikuto felt that Amu was in trouble. He wanted to go and warned her about him, but he knew that he couldn't because he was on tight watch ever since he helped free Amu from the jailsail powered by X-eggs. Somehow, the director found out that Amu escaped due to Ikuto intervening, so the director reacted by having Ikuto on a tighter leash and have him watched carefully. He could easily have escaped his interlopers, but that would alert them, and they will report it to the director. So there was nothing he could do until night, where he can wander around in the city and have the interlopers 'lose' him through the crowds of people. Until then, he had to wait.

He turned around and headed for the door. A great gust of wind tackled him from his right side as he proceeded to the door. He grabbed the doorknob and went through the door, leaving the roof almost empty. The sound of a sonido ushered forth, and Ulquiorra was on the roof. He stared at the door Ikuto went through. _Tsukiyomi_ _Ikuto, it seems that he is observant than most of the people I have met. This will serve as a guide to take further interest in you; however, first I must ascertain more data from my other target, Hinamori_ _Amu_ _. In order for me to obtain more data from her, I will have to retrieve the information first hand._ He used sonido to quickly leave the rooftop. The gust of wind finally stopped.


	4. Ch 4 Observation

****Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.****

 **Ch. 4 Observation**

The sun began to overtake nightfall, turning the dark-blue skies into light-blue, and some of the sunshine managed to slip into Amu's room. This time though, she arose from her bed with a smile on her face. When she got home last night, she skipped dinner and went straight to bed, allowing for 11 hours of precious sleep to refresh her mind and body. She stretched out her hands upward as far as they can go, and as soon as she felt stretched, she release her arms and let them hit the bed. Ran, Miki, and Su got out of their eggs and were met with a smiling Amu.

"Good morning, everyone." She greeted.

"Good morning, Amu-chan!" It looks like you got a good night's rest." Ran shouted.

"Yeah. You look rejuvenated and well-rested." Su added in.

"You really did just need a good, long slumber." Miki pitched.

The first thing Amu did was she entered the shower because she skipped out on a shower yesterday, and there is no way on Earth that she will go to school without having taken a shower; a girl has to keep up her appearance, and that includes smell. When she got out, she leisurely put on her school uniform minus the black blazer and headed downstairs. The smell of bacon and eggs sizzling smacked Amu's nose and caused her stomach to give out a big growl. She did not have dinner, so it was natural for her to be super hungry. She entered the kitchen and was met with a plate of golden-yellow eggs with perfect-brown bacon located on top of it. The breakfast looked so dreamy, like it was a breakfast for the gods. If she listen closely, she could hear the bacon on her plate still sizzling from the oils. Her mom noticed her and said, "Good morning, Amu. I made you a good breakfast since you did not have dinner yesterday."

"Thank you, Mom." She said, then she took her seat. The sight of the breakfast caused drool to escape her mouth and go down almost two inches. It took Miki to inform her that drool three inches long was hanging by her lips. She quickly smothered the drool with her hands, and digged into her breakfast.

Once she finished, she went back to her room to get blazer and went back downstairs to leave. She opened the door, and a big gust of wind hit her body. Blinded a little, she left from her doorstep and went to school.

As she got closer to the school, she began to see all the students cluster together since they were all heading to the same destination. The students all had a smile on their faces as they went to school. These moments where everything is peaceful helped to take Amu's mind off the sensation that occurred two nights ago-she was already having a great day with her sleep, so she has not been thinking about that since then. Off in the distance, she could see the school on top of the hill that it was always on. When she reached the school, she saw Tadase a little bit ahead of her. She sped up to walk with him to class. Tadase noticed her and greeted her with a smile. Rima joined in when they got to the main entrance of the school, and they all walked to the classroom together.

The beginning of class was quite normal for Hinamori-san. She was not tortured by the sensation she felt two nights ago, and she got a good's night rest. The Guardians and her have discussed the sensation, which did ease some of the tensions within herself. It still bothered her that Ikuto did give her some more indepth information; she knew that he knows more than he lets on, but there was nothing she can do other than beg him to tell her. In any case, she was just relieved that she had the chance to discuss it with her friends. Nikaidou was explaining one of the core concepts in a story when Amu tuned back in. She looked around to see what page everyone was in, and she noticed Tadase sitting there. Seeing him brought back the memory of them holding hands last night as a precaution. Her cheeks became red again upon her thinking of the semi-romantic gesture by Tadase. She quickly looked away to calm herself down, but temptation was clearly present when she allowed herself to daydream. Her guardian angels could tell she was daydreaming with her eyes looking relax and can see the stare that is looking at nothing. Just at the pinnacle of her fantasies, a well-known sensation washed over the guardian angels. They looked around to find where this well-known sensation was coming from, and they spotted the source out the window. They all informed their bearers about it. Ran had to be the one to snap Amu from her daydreams. Her facial expression turned from a relaxed one to a worried-serious one. Then, out of nowhere…

"Amu-chan! Look out the window!" Su alerted. Outside the window, there floated an X-egg, staring into the class. The guardians, and even Nikaidou, all saw it. Amu was hesitant to do anything because she was in class, and she can't make a scene, but she didn't care though, and she slammed her hands against the table and quickly arose from her chair.

"Excuse me!" she shouted. "I have to use the restroom!" She bolted from her desk and ran out the back door of the classroom. Everyone in the room was in confusion as to why she just left. Sure, she had to use the bathroom, but the way she performed her actions, questions could not be stopped from being asked. The best conclusion the students could make is she had to go really badly. The classroom looked at Nikaidou for an answer. He already knew as to why Amy had to go to the 'bathroom' since he could feel the presence of the X-egg. He responded that she had to use the bathroom badly and continued with the lesson. Tadase and Rima did not follow Amu because it would cause too much of a scene if all the Guardians in the room suddenly ran from their desk explaining that they all had to use the bathroom simultaneously. No. They stayed behind because they had faith in her that she could purify that X-egg. Tadase gave a small smile as the room began to regain calmness. _Be safe, Hinamori-san. I know you can do it._ He thought to himself.

* * *

Amu burst through the back doors of the school. Ran, Miki, Su were right behind.

"Which way is the X-egg?" Amu demanded.

"Its this way, Amu-chan." Ran answered. Ran gained some altitude, about eight feet off the ground, and proceeded into the back of the school, where the school's mini forest was located. Without any hesitation, Amu jumped right into the labyrinth of trees and bushes to locate the X-egg. Amu fought through some bushes and twigs, but it wasn't enough to cause her to cease finding the X-egg; she was determined to find this egg because it was her job to rescue the eggs, but more importantly, she knew that a kid's dream was at stake, and if the egg was to remain with an X, then it could spell trouble for the child's future.

"Amu-chan, this way!" Ran gasped. Amu kept on following Ran, until they came across a horrible sight. A bunch of dead leaves were scattered all over the ground. They were not red, orange, or yellow like in autumn. Instead, they were gray, like the color and life were drained from them. Looking at the trees, they were void of any leaves, as if a maisa of death blew in and caused the green in the leaves to be drained, leaving only the shells of the leaves. In the middle of the dead leaves floated the X-egg with its back towards them (They could not see the X on the egg). Amu attempted to sneakily capture the egg in front of her by tip-toeing her way towards it, hoping that it would not notice her, until a blunder was made. One false step, and one of the leaves caused a crackle sound, making it resonate throughout the area, causing the X-egg to ominously turn around to find out the cause of the sound. This was not good for Amu and her guardian angels. Ran, Miki, and Su felt the atmosphere change from a uncomfortable feeling into a heavy feeling that kept on growing and gathering negative energy. The X-egg rose up into the air, and gushed forth a gust of wind hinted with X-egg negative energy. The mighty whirlwind caused our heroine to cover her face and her clothes to be caught, causing her to inch back. Her guardians angels were immediately blown away with the whirlwind. It was strong enough that it caused Miki to drop her sketchpad on the floor, and not noticing that she dropped it. Amu, on the other hand, could not hold up against the gust any longer, and was toppled from her stance and hit the floor hard. The X-egg gave off a snickering laugh as far as Amu can tell because she saw it rejoice as it was able to knock her down. She stared at it for a while with no plan as to deal with it because none of her guardian angels were near to perform a Character Transformation. She felt that she could not do anything, and that feeling got worse when she saw a crack appear right in the middle of the egg. Soon, the crack was around the entire egg, and both ends popped out, revealing an X-character.

Trepidation drenched over Amu by the sight of the X-character. She did not have her guardian angels by her side; this made her a sitting duck for the X-character to have its fun. It snickered at her, and then it ushered forth another gust of dark wind at her. This one was more powerful than the previous one. She used her hands to block her face from the wind, but the wind just pushed her back more, causing her bottom to slide fast through the rough dirt and grass. When Amu looked at the X-character, it gave her a wicked smile because it celebrated its victory over her. It was at that point that Amu heard a still, small voice from out of nowhere. She endeavored to find where it came from, and when she heard it again, she identified that it was coming from the X-character's inner thoughts. The still, small voice did sound like it was in pain. A third time of hearing the voice revealed what it was saying.

"It's pointless to continue with soccer if I'm not good at it. No matter how much I practice, I don't get any better. I'm trash! Trash! **Trash!** "

These doubts flowed throughout the area, listened to by Amu and her guardians angels wherever they were. Her hands slowly transformed into a fist. Her somber look began to morph into an irritant glare. Her teeth began to gnash together.

"Are you kidding me?" She angrily stated, catching the attention of the X-character and shocking it out of its triumph. It was confused at how a this girl's demeanor changed from helplessness to determination.

"Do you honestly believe that you're trash? Do you really? I find that anybody who thinks they're trash is stupid." This only infuriated the X-character more. It began to raise it hands, and a ball of black energy was forming, preparing to strike down the girl in front of it for her sudden defiance.

"Ran!" She shouted. Immediately, Ran emerged from out of the rubble she was in and floated up to Amu. They both looked at each other and nodded.

"My Heart! Unlock!"

She was engulfed in a bright light that radiated the area. Inside the light, her body was glowing white. The white light transformed into a uniform. Pink Sneakers accompanied by pink leg warmers with a light-pink, pleated skirt. She also obtained a pink, sleeveless top that exposed her belly. A red ribbon can be found tied around her neck and another tied on her skirt. Her uniform resembles that of a cheerleader with a pink golfer's hat along with her hair tied in a side ponytail with a heart-shape pin at the base of her ponytail. More heart-shape accessories can be found throughout her body.

"Character transformation, Amulet Heart!"

Amu slowly descended from the air as soon as her transformation was complete. She felt her own power flowing throughout her body. This surge of power raged in the area she was in. Her eyes had determination gushing out of them, enough to cause anybody to flinch or react if he was on the receiving end of her glare. The X-character gnashed its teeth at the sight of this Amu. It then unleashed its ball of negative energy at Amu. Amu got her legs prepared by bending them slightly, and she leaped into the air to achieve a great height. Her body was over all the trees that surrounded her and the X-character, but not high enough to be over the school. More frustration emanated from the X-character. One can notice its rage by seeing its stub of a hand beginning to clench-its hand area started to shake aggressively, showing that it had anger overflowing throughout its entire body. It raised its hand again, and a bigger ball of black energy began to form at a much faster rate. When it completed its charge, it flung the massive ball at Amu again, anticipated that she couldn't dodge it in time. Amu clasped her hands together, and pink, glittered pom-poms formed in her hands. The ball of blackness made contact with her pom-poms,and a great gust of wind exploded out upon contact with her hands. The X-character only smiled more wickedly because it knew that she would not be able to counter its black ball of that caliber. But it was proved wrong. The wicked, evil smile the X-character gave instantly disappeared when it witnessed Amu flinging her left hand, and the black ball of energy dispersed in such a short amount of time. This made the X-character shudder and its eyes widen. Amu attempted again to listen to the owner's doubts.

"I can't do anything. I will never be good at soccer. No matter how much effort I put into it, I will always be trash." This made Amu teeth grind. Her eyes now only exposed anger.

" **ENOUGH!"** She screamed. "If you think that you will never be good at soccer, you're probably right. You won't be able to accomplish anything with that kind of attitude. I used to believe that I was never good at sports, but I kept on trying because I believed in myself."

Her tone began to switch from a very stern voice to one that is full of compassion and empathy.

"Don't give up on yourself. Keep trying. If you do that, then I can assure you that you will never be trash." Her speech worked. The negative thinking he was giving off began to stop. He came to a sudden realization that he can't give up just yet, not until he give it his all.

A perfect chance arose.

"Negative Heart, Lock-on!" Beams in a heart shape began to pour out of Amu's lock located on her chest as she formed a heart shape with her hands. The heart beam began to envelop the X-character. It shielded itself from the beam, but to no avail.

"Open Heart!" The beam became more aggressive as shining light swallowed the X-character. The energy it was being shot with was too much for the X-character to handle. A crack formed on its red X on its head. More cracks appeared. Then, the entire X broke. The X-character faded, and a guardian angel appeared. It smiled at Amu and thanked her for her help, and she smiled back. Two egg shells appeared from atop and at the bottom of the guardian angel, and slowly began to enclose the guardian angel. Once the guardian angel was back in its egg, to flew away, going back to its original owner.

Amu gave off a big sigh because that encounter took a lot out of her. Miki and Su appeared out of the rubble of leaves. They got near Amu, and Amu broke her character transformation. Ran expressed her tiredness by slouching over and having her eyes closed, showing that she wanted to take a big, long nap.

"We did it, Amu. Now, can we go take a nap because I'm tired from this fight?" Everybody laughed, and they started their journey back to the classroom. It took her good twenty minutes to purify the X-character, so there was going to be a lot of explaining to her classmates. (Nikaidou already knew, so he shouldn't be a problem). She turned around and headed back to the classroom. Suddenly, she looked back, thinking that there was something there, or someone, but she soon disregarded it because there was nothing her eyes could have detected that could be considered strange, and she returned to class.

As she ran off, right above her, a certain figure in white clothes appeared half a mile up (.81 km) in the air. He stared at her as she was running off with his cold, unyielding eyes. He was far enough so her guardian angels couldn't have felt his battle with the X-character produced a lot of information for him to analyze, but he had to get a closer look; he must go to the sight where the battle took place to find any residue of her power still lingered at the sight. It made more sense to come back in the evening because there could be a chance he could be spotted by unwanted spectators. He turned around, and used sonido to quickly leave the spot he was standing.

* * *

 _Earlier in the morning…_

Ulquiorra had not fallen asleep since his arrival in this realm. He is an arrancar, and arrancars did not need to eat or sleep like most others as often. His best estimates suggest that he would have to eat and sleep every 10 days or so. Although, he has taken a liking to tea, which he drinks every now and then. Ever since his meeting with the director, Ikuto, and Lulu, he has been gathering information about Amu Hinamori by reading files created by Easter about her. They were useful to some extent. For example, she can perform three different Character Transformations. To his understanding, he related this phenomenon of Character Transformation to that of an arrancar's Resurreccion because he can draw similarities. The three Character Transformations Easter documented were Amulet Heart, Amulet Spade, and Amulet Clover. He also knew that her transformations were possible because of the Heart Lock she possesses. But other than that, the rest of the information was insignificant. The files only went on to tell Ulquiorra about her friends, the Guardians, and about encounters the company had with her. Needless to say, Ulquiorra cannot measure her power through reports; he needs to witness her power with his own two eyes to analyze and understand. He understood that as the joker of the Guardians, she was responsible for taking care of the reports have stated that she cleanses the X-egg instead of destroying them. This gave him a few ideas about how to analyze her power. He was on top of Easter during all his thinking, but now, it is time to take action to witness Amu's power. He used sonido to move quickly, quickly in the direction of Seiyo Academy.

After some time, Ulquiorra found himself a couple of block away from the school judging from his position in the air. He immediately had to go to the ground since the people in this world had the ability to see him-quite inconvenient for him. He landed in an ally so that no one could see him standing in the air; the shadows helped to conceal him because he would not want unwanted attention focused on him. Upon walking out of the alley, he saw a multitude of children wearing somewhat similar outfits. The females all wore a white, long-sleeve shirt with a black blazer, red-checkered skirts with a solid-red tie with black shoes, white tube socks, and a brown satchel bag. The males wore long-sleeve white shirts with a black blazer like the females, but they wore a blue tie with blue-checkered shorts. They also had white tube socks and black shoes. The one feature that captured his attention was that every single one of the children all had a smile on their faces. Ulquiorra can tell that everyone was having a good time talking with their friends and enjoying themselves. This was unfamiliar to him. Back in Las Noches, the Espada were not really considered friends with one another's, just allies to some extent. It can be really hard to have friends that are better than you in terms of strength, and the proof for this is having a number tattooed to one's body. They usually would not try to kill each other for Aizen's sake, so there was a mutual, unspoken agreement to not try to kill each other. Returning back to the streets, nothing seemed interesting. He has not found Amu yet, but his eyes were captured by one of the children because he was different. This child was not smiling like the rest. He was looking towards the ground with a melancholy expression in his eyes. There was nobody around him, so it looks like he was alone for the moment. Ulquiorra could tell that this child was troubled because he has seen that expression before on Orihime when he went to visit her in her room, or rather jailsail. He is also accustom to it because his power instills much worse dread and despair into his foes upon feeling his true power, or true despair.

Suddenly, the same child with worry began to shake his head left and right and brought his hands to his cheeks quickly.

"Enough of this worry, I can become better at soccer if I can think positively and practice more. The only person who can decide if I am good at soccer is me." He shouted to himself.

This unexpected action managed to rid himself of the sadness that he had. This puzzled Ulquiorra. _How can a being with despair just snap out of it in mere seconds? How can a human do that? It is impossible._ At that moment, something came to his mind. For some unknown reason, an image of Ichigo Kurosaki appeared in his mind. He was wearing his kimono, but it was tattered and destroyed. He can also tell that he was exhausted and was pushing himself beyond his limits. It made no sense why this child would bring Ichigo to his mind in the current state he was in. He does not remember seeing him like that other than the time he stabbed a hole right in the middle of his chest. He would go on to ponder this as to obtain more information, but right now, he must examine Amu's power. He interrupted the child speaking to himself as he got closer to Ulquiorra by saying…

"You can't do it." This grabbed the child's attention. What he saw made him step back because the man before him looked suspicious. Ulquiorra continued.

"Do you honestly expect to accomplish anything just because a sudden change of mood? That makes you a fool to believe in something like that." The child responded with,

"I-It's my choice if I believe I can do it just by smiling."

"There are many others who are like you, and only a handful are as good as they say. What makes you think that you are any good? You have to understand, it you are not good at something, you better off not pursuing it to avoid future failure."

The child looked down slightly. He was starting to understand that this mystery man was right. Everything he has done was all for nothing if he can not improve in soccer. At that moment, Ulquiorra saw an egg appear right above him. The egg would have been all white and sparkling, but it looked as if it was dull, as one can notice the tint of grey to it. He looked back to the child only to see that the same melancholy expression has returned. Ulquiorra thought that this was one of those moments he was told about. When someone starts to have doubt, there is a chance that the egg could turn into an X-egg.

This was the perfect opportunity.

Ulquiorra finished with…

"Judging from what I can tell, you have no significance, you are an expendable person that will be easily forgotten. You will never be good at soccer. **You are trash**."

Upon the utterance of the word "trash," the egg above the child began to fade into black with a big, white "X" on the front. He turned his attention to the child, and he saw that his eyes had no life, no emotion, but complete despair. This child has given up on becoming better at soccer. He sluggishly raised his head and uttered,

I can't do anything. Practicing something you're bad at is a waste of time. I'm trash. trash... trash." He kept on repeating that words quietly to himself. He turned his attention away from the man before him and headed to school with one thought in his mind. _Trash._ It was time for Ulquiorra to examine the Joker's true potential.

* * *

 _Later in the day, after school, in the Royal Garden…._

After a long day of school, it was time for the Guardians to reconvene in the Royal Garden to blow off steam. They all sat around the table having some of Nagihiko's famous tea and cookies to go with it. Yaya was, of course, overexcited for his tea and cookies. Amu, Tadase, and Rima all were eating and drinking their tea in a more controlled manner compared to Yaya. Everyone's guardians angels were all relaxing on the table, playing with a miniture ball. Kiseki attempted to order everyone to follow his rules, but they all ignored him. Everything was normal at the Royal Garden. Then Rima spoke up.

"How did it go with the X-egg?" Amu stopped sipping her tea.

"It went alright." She said nonchalantly.

"You were more than alright!" blurted out Ran. "She was awesome! The X-egg hatched, and she was still able to cleanse it! From what I felt, it was really powerful!"

Amu's cheeks began to fill up with blood upon hearing Ran over exaggerated her story. She brought her tea to her lips to hide her blushing.

"You did a phenomenal job, Hinamori-san." stated Tadase. Her cheeks got even red, forcing her to turn around and cross her arms.

"I-I was only doing my job as the Joker. There is nothing special about what I did." She protested with her chest up.

"Aww. There's Amu-chan's Cool and spicy!" her guardians angels said in unison.

"She must be doing that because she is trying to hide the fact that She li…" was all Su could say until two hands came over her in attempt to silence her. Looking back, Su can see Amu's glare directed towards Su. Her tiny body began to tremble because she did not know what would come next. Everybody laughed. The laughing continued for a good ten seconds until...

"AHHHHHHHH! My sketchpad! It's gone!" Announced Miki in a very loud voice to get everybody's attention. The laughing immediately stopped, and everybody redirected their eyes on Miki.

"Miki," Amu stated. "Do you know where you could have possibly dropped your sketchpad?"

"I don't know. I had on me in the classroom, and I had it when we went to chase down…that's it! I must have dropped it when we were fighting that X-egg somewhere behind the school."

Amu could not help but give off a big sigh because the back of the school was huge, and finding a tiny sketchpad would be tedious to find. Then a voice broke Amu's mind out of her negative thinking.

"Then it's settled. We are all going to look for the notebook right now." declared Tadase. Everybody, excluding Amu, stood up from their chair and looked at Amu and her guardian angels.

Amu was not surprised because her friends would do anything for her. She knew that because of the experiences they all went through together. A gentle, warm smile was let out by Amu.

"Thank you all." Amu announced

"Yes, thank you all for helping me find my sketchpad." added in Miki. Amu and her guardian angels, along with her friends all marched through the doors of the building they were in to begin their search for the sketchpad. The other guardian angels followed also.

* * *

Once all the Guardians reached the wooded area behind the school, they all decided to split up to cover more ground. It was evident that Amu had the best chance of finding the sketchpad because she roughly knew where she encountered the X-egg, but just to be safe, they decided to split up anyway to cover more ground in the extreme case that the sketchpad was dropped before the encounter. It was well known that finding that sketchpad was going to prove difficult considering it was extremely small.

Amu had some sort of idea where to start looking, so she headed straight there. Seeing endless trees and bushes did not help because the area she fought in also had trees and bushes; it not like someone is going to remember what a specific tree looks like.

However, she would know if she was in the area seeing that the ground was riddled with dead leaves. Thinking back to the morning, she retraced her steps starting from when she exited the school. She had a good memory, so it made her task much easier. She fought again through the trees and bushes and came out unscathed. They all knew they were coming closer by the broken branches and grey leaves scattered on the ground. This became more common as they headed to where the encounter began. As the abundance of leaves became apparent, Miki spotted something off the ground that gave a glare when sunlight reflected off of it. She assumed that it was a type of metal, and as she got closer, the metal part was in a spiral shape. Her body began to heat up due to the anticipation of possibly being the sketchpad. She moved some leaves, and her eyes widen and a smile formed.

"I found it!" She shouted.

"Alright, Miki!" Ran added

"I'm glad that we found it." Su stated

"Yeah. Now I'll call the others to tell them that you found your sketchpad."

Right as she reached for her phone, Su heard some rustling coming from the further into the woods. Curious, She went to go see what was behind the trees and bushes, where she thinks the X-character battle began.

"Su, where are you going." asked Amu.

"I heard something coming from this direction." she replied. Amu and the rest of the gang followed Su. Su went a little ahead and lost her briefly. Luckily, they found her just floating there, her face in awe.

"Su, don't just run off like that." Amu said concerned.

"Amu-chan, look." Amu and the rest of the gang were surprised by the unique sight they beheld.

Upon reaching the site of the incident, right on the center of the dead leaves, there was a person kneeling down on one knee with two fingers extended, touching the circle of dead leaves while the other hand was resting on his left knee. She saw that this person had white clothes and had some sort of broken helmet because the helmet only covered his left side of his head and left the other side exposed. This helmet extended all the way to his neck. As she endeavored to get closer, the crushing sound of dried, dead leaves gave away her element of surprise… again. The person lifted his head in response and rose from his kneeling position while at the same time turning around and placing his hands in his pockets to see who tried to sneak up on him. Now, being able to see him fully, Amu and make out the small details. This person was very pale-scary pale; she could not tell if he was wearing makeup or that was his natural color of his skin. The helmet had some sort of horn-like thing protruding from it, and he had messy, black, short hair with a bain in between his eyes. His eyes were green and had long, skinny, slit-shape pupils that resembled something like a cat. This detail reminded her of Ikuto. There were also green lines coming out of his eyes and went all the way down to his chin. she wondered if these lines represented tears or something else. He wore a black sash, a white hakama, and a white coat with two long coattails that almost touched the ground and had a long collar. He also wore sandals with black socks. The one feature that grabbed Amu's attention the most was the expression he was making. The frown he had was disturbing; it brought discomfort to Amu if she were to stare at it for more than a couple of seconds. She wanted to look away, but she was also intrigued and curious about the person in front of her. _What is this that I am feeling? Just looking at him make me feel uneasy. Is he looking for something? He is trying to figure out what caused the circle of dead leaves?_

It was silent as the two of them just stared at each other. Amu felt uncomfortable because she almost feels that this person was analyzing her, but she did not want to break the eye contact with him, so instead…

"Do you mind if I ask what you are looking for?" She said with her right hand scratching the back of her head with a fake smile on her face and slightly looking away.

He did not respond. Instead, he kept staring at her, analyzing her to see what she was going to do next. It was at this time that Ran decided to whisper into Amu's ear, explaining her concerns with this person. As she did that, she caught the man's eyes twitch for a brief second, and in that second, she had the feeling that he was not looking at Amu anymore, but at her instead. Even if it was a brief second, she was unnerved by this fact that it seemed that he was staring at her very core with his cold, emotionless eyes. Nobody else caught his but her. Then, he finally spoke up.

"Nothing." he stated. "My business here if finished." He turned his back to her and walked into the trees, fading into the background with the assistance of the scenery of bushes and trees.

"W-wait!" Amu blurted out, with no particular reason at all; she must have done so instinctively. She found her legs began to move on their own and after the mysterious person. She did not know what was she doing. Why was she going after him if this person unnerves her so much? She would have to find out later because whatever she was going to do, the person was no where to be found. It was only 7 seconds before she went after him, and he was gone, just like that, almost as if he teleported. Amu just stared into the woods, trying to unravel how he escaped her in such an astonishing time. Her moment of pondering would have to wait as her phone began to ring. She looked at the collar ID, and it was Tadase. She answered it.

"Any luck with the sketchpad?" He said.

"Yeah, I found it. Thanks for helping us out." She responded

"No problem at all, Hinamori-san. I will call the others and tell them that you found it, and that they can start to head home."

"Thank you, Tadase-kun. I'll see you tomorrow any everybody else for our trip to the market." She said and hung up. They were all going to spend time together tomorrow at the mall. All the Guardians will be there, and she can't wait to spend time with them, especially Tadase, her prince. Nevertheless, the task that she had planned was complete. It was pointless to look for the mysterious person in the mini forest of the school because it was getting dark. She decided to just let it go and go home. As she exited the school, Amu noticed that Ran was looking kind of down; she usually all peppy and felicitous, but she seems that there was something on her mind, and it was disturbing her.

"What's wrong, Ran?" Amu asked.

"I think that person was staring at me" Ran pointed out. "I don't know, but for a split second, I swear that his eyes looked in my direction, looked into my eyes."

"Are you sure because it seemed to me that he kept on looking at me." Amu question, but she did not need for Ran to respond. The look she had on her face said it all. The mysterious person looked at her, and she did not even notice. _Who was that guy? Can he see shugo charas? If so, why was he here at Seiyo Academy?_ All these questions rattled her head, but she did not want to worry about it because tomorrow is Saturday, which means no school. She will have time to discuss all of this with the other Guardians on Monday. For now, she put it on the back burner, and headed straight home.


	5. Ch 5 Allies

_Here is the next chapter. Sorry it took so long to upload it; I had other things to take care of. I will endeavor harder to get the next chapter posted, but it will be difficult with college starting up._

 **Ch. 5 Allies**

Ulquiorra used his sonido to quickly escape the vicinity without Hinamori Amu noticing—not that he was in a hurry. To him, it would be most beneficial if she did not get too close to him because her Shugo charas would have picked up on his spiritual pressure. He has already been suppressing it so they cannot sense him, but there is a limit to how much he can suppress his power. If they got too close, then her shugo charas would pick up on it. Honestly, he was not expecting for her to intervene while he was gathering data from her battle; it was no different than him gathering more information about Orihime Inoue when Kisuke Urahara interrupted him. But that does not matter now. He analyzed the remaining residue that was left at the battle and was able to ascertain a lot of information about her transformation Amulet Heart.

He has confirmed for himself that it was that lock located in the center of her chest that was responsible for her transformation-the Humpty Lock if he recalls from the reports he has read.

"So it is that lock around her neck that is responsible for her transformation. Strange, I can't help but feel there are some parallels to her transformation to that of an arrancar's resurreccion." He knows that a resurreccion is the process of an arrancar becoming its true essence and reverting back to the original form the hollow once had, gaining more power in the process. Combining that information with the limited knowledge he has learned about heart's eggs, then it would be safe to assume that her character transformation is like a resurreccion in that it brings out her true essence; who she wants to be or a physical form of her desires. He has talked about her transformations with the director when he first came across it in the reports, having him explain her strange outfits she wears when in her transformation. Ulquiorra delved into deep thought about what her transformation, Amulet Heart, could mean. From what he recalls from the director's explanation about cheerleaders, they exist only to excite the crowd during sporting events. Though he may never understand why such professions exist, he does understand some of the aspects of a cheerleader, and combining that with the performance and attitude of Amulet Heart, Ulquiorra can assume that her transformation is the manifestation of her dream to be more outgoing and honest with herself. One would expect nothing less from the fourth Espada.

Character Transformations, heart's egg, X-eggs, Guardians, and Easter. All of this unraveling information was quite interesting to the fourth Espada. He may actually be interested in investigating and learning more about what this world has to offer, but the one thing that managed to grab Ulquiorra's attention the most was Hinamori Amu. Though he only has known about the existence of Amu for a little bit, this new-found **interest** for this human girl was remarkable. One could say that it was on par with his invested interest in Ichigo Kurosaki. In fact, Ulquiorra did find something in Amu that forced memories of Ichigo to suddenly appear. He could not say what that thing was at the moment, but he is sure that he will uncover the similarity, but there is something both Amu and Ichigo share that managed to catch his eye.

It should be noted that during his revelations about Hinamori Amu, he walked further into the woods to avoid running into her again. Whatever the case it was with her transformation, he still had two others to gather information on, Amulet Spade and Amulet Clover. In the meantime, he proceeded deeper into the woods, expecting to come out soon and be greeted with the gray pavement of a sidewalk. The forest started to thin out, indicating that he was exiting the small forest behind the Seiyo Academy, but what he saw wasn't sidewalk, road, or anything a city might possess, but instead, a huge structure that was placed seemingly in the middle of the woods. It seemed out of place because what human would put a building behind a school with thick trees masquerading it from the public? This structure had a wall around its vicinity. Ulquiorra noticed the green moss and chipped paint that clung to the structure and wall. The top of the structure was in a dome shape with a red roof. The collecting dust on the windows along with cob webs in the corners complimented the look the building was portraying. He began to question if anybody other than insects or animals have actually been inside this aging building.

 _How come I did not notice this building before?_ Surely, a building that size would have been noticed by him, but he didn't. This built curiosity in Ulquiorra and bothered him that he did not notice something this visible and out of place. The only way he would be able to calm his curiosity from bothering him was to satisfy it, and there was only one way to do so.

The long, brown double doors towered over Ulquiorra, but he did not hesitate. His arm extended to grab the doorknob. The cold, metal feeling met his hand as he began to twist slowly to the right until he could not turn anymore. He pushed on the doorknob, letting out a creaking sound of the doors opening, and entered the structure. He was greeted with a spacious room that had a night sky of its own. Under this sky, there was a giant telescope point up toward the fake sky surround with a plethora of seats arranged in a circle all positioned to look up. He has never seen a place like this.

"It seems that a visitor has come. This is quite rare. Not a lot of people visit this place these days." a mysterious voice spoke from the shadows.

"Identify yourself" ordered Ulquiorra toward the shadows.

"My, please forgive my intrusion." From out of the shadows, a person wearing a light-blue jumpsuit with silky, light-brown hair appeared. He had his long bangs covering part of his face, but still able to see his eyes. He gave a warm smile at Ulquiorra, and he returned it with his usual empty stare and frown.

"Sorry for alerting you like that, I am Tsukasa Amakawa, the caretaker of this planetarium." he stated with his gentle smile still persisting.

"You called this place a planetarium. What is that?" Tsukasa studied the man before him, taking in all the details he gave off. He then explained…

"A planetarium is where a person can go to view the stars. Come with me. I'll give you a free showing." Tsukasa walked back into the shadows, and Ulquiorra followed. Tsukasa pointed to a seat where Ulquiorra could sit himself. He took his seat and sat very proper, not utilizing the back of the chair angled about 60 degrees. Tsukasa came back out with a cup of tea to give to Ulquiorra. He presented the tea in front of him, to which Ulquiorra accepted the tea without saying anything for he was still wary of this person. Arakawa took a seat next to him, taking advantage of the chair by laying down on it so he had a proper view of the sky unlike Ulquiorra.

"There is no need to be proper. Please, lay back on your chair, or it might be very uncomfortable for you to see the sky in your position." Amakawa expressed. Ulquiorra took a moment before saying,

"Very well." And rested his back on the chair.

"Just keeping looking at the sky, and you will see what a planetarium does." Ulquiorra did what he said and kept looking up. It started out as a black sky, with nothing to look at. Ulquiorra's impression on planetariums was not good to say the least. Dots of lights from across the black sky began to illuminate—Ulquiorra thought these dots of light represented stars. These stars slowly erased away the darkness that lingered in the sky, and revealing everything that hiding behind the darkness. Cloud of blue and green presided over a good region of the sky. The way the two color tangled together brought out beauty they had to offer each other, along with other varying colors in a spiral were filling up the sky. It was truly a sight to behold as the lit-up night sky with a multitude of varying colored galaxies slowly turned to a fiery-orange sunset with the stars still visible. The sunset canopy did not last long as the sky quickly returned to a dark-blue night sky with the galaxies not present. The stars slowly began to lose their radiance as the sky returned to when Ulquiorra first entered. Arakawa turned to see Ulquiorra's face to be amazed, but what he saw was the frown Ulquiorra had when he first met him. He took it as a sign that he was unmoved by the beautiful sight of stars dancing in the night; however, this did not deter him. Arakawa spoke up.

"That is what a planetarium is, to let people gaze up at the sky. This place was very lively at one time, but it seems that many people have forgotten about this place, yet it somehow draws the people who are lost and uncertain." A moment of silence occurred until…

"Is this all you do? Put on some show for people to waste time staring up at the fake sky?" Ulquiorra stated.

"No. This is only a part-time job. I have a main job to do also." He responded with his gentle smile still there. Ulquiorra responded with nothing and took a sip of his tea. Arakawa took a sip of tea as well. When he finished, he relaxed a little back in his seat and looked up at the stars.

"Normally, one would not be able to see the stars at night. They are usually blocked out by the clouds in the city or lights from the city. But here, one can gaze up at them as long as he wants without interference from lights or clouds. Funny, I do not remember the last time I was able to gaze upon a star in the city. What about you, do you like to look up at the stars?" Arakawa waited for Ulquiorra to answer. He took another sip of tea before saying,

"No. I never been able to see the stars. From what I understand, one can see the stars at night at his own leisure, so why would anyone pay to look at an artificial sky to view fake stars? It would make this building useless if looking at stars is why this building was intended to do." Ulquiorra expressed in his plane tone.

"You're not from here are you? I'm guessing you are from a faraway land." Arakawa hinted. Ulquiorra waited, then respond with,

"You are correct."

"And from where you come from, I assume that the stars don't show themselves at night?"

"Correct. Where I come from, there are no stars, just a black-abyss night sky with a crescent moon to add to the blackness."

"Well, I find that gazing at the stars pleasant experience because it helps me generate ideas for my stories." he expressed.

"Are you a writer?" Ulquiorra questioned.

"Just a novice. You might say that I am a hatching egg." This statement caught Ulquiorra's attention. The clue was subtle, but it was enough for him to pick up on. _There is more to this man than I thought._ He decided to play along to see what might come from the conversation with this person.

"I managed to write one book. Hold on, I'll go get it for you to read." Arakawa arose from his seat and left to go get the book. Ulquiorra sat there to himself thinking about the mystery that surrounds this man. _He knows more than he lets on. He was able to determine that I was not from here just my responses to his questions. And also that he has something to do with hearts eggs._ Of course this was all speculation, but a little speculation was not bad for Ulquiorra since he is quite the analyst when it comes to investigating. He looked back up to the fake night sky that hung over him. If it was supposed to mimic the night sky outside, then why does it seem different? It is a fake, and yet there was something more to it. It was almost as if that the outside sky was somehow fake, and the sky in here was more real than the one outside. How can that be? The sky over him was fake, and the sky outside was real. Nothing could persuade him other. _There is nothing more to this building. It is simply a waste if humans have to stare at lights in the sky under a fake sky instead of the actual sky._ It reminded him of the fake daylight sky of the canopy of Las Noches. He wondered why Aizen ever put that up there, not that he would ever question him about it. Some people function more efficiently in the dark, like Espada number 9.

Footsteps echoed throughout the open area; Arakawa was returning back from his search. He stood before Ulquiorra with a hard-covered book in both of this hands, presenting it to Ulquiorra.

"This is only one of my books that I was able to publish. Please, do read it. It was meant for children, but I think that you'll find it interesting."

He took hold of it, and turned it around as to see the title of this children's book. Any suspicions about the man before Ulquiorra was put to rest as he read in his mind the title of the book along with the image that accompanied the title. _The Heart's Egg._ He quickly brought his eyes off the book as to look at the person before. He stood there with his tea in his hand and a warm smile directed at him.

 _There is an egg in the heart of each child._

 _It is the heart's egg, unseen by the eye._

 _As one grows up, it fades away._

Ulquiorra kept on reading because though it may be a children's book, it actually provided information that would be beneficial to him. Some of it he already knew, but there was more about how a child obtain his heart's egg. He read it with the utmost scrutiny, taking his time to scan each sentence with the corresponding picture that goes with it. It is now clear that this man, Tsukasa Arakawa, is somebody who possess great knowledge about heart's eggs.

He turned the page.

He slightly reacted, though not much, to what he saw in the book… One of the pages was torn out. However, Ulquiorra was finished with the book. He closed it up, not asking anything about the missing page, and handed it back to the Arakawa.

"I'll ask again, who are you?" He stated with a little more assertion in his voice, though very miniscule. Arakawa noticed his tone, but did nothing to it; he just kept on smiling.

"I'm just some part-timer working in this planetarium, along with being a novice writer." answering his question. Ulquiorra was unsatisfied by his answer. If he were Nnoitora, he would have thrown his giant double-U shape scythe at Arakawa, sending him flying across the area and impaling him into the wall, instantly killing him. Lucky for Arakawa, he was not a brute like Nnoitora. He inhaled, and exhaled his breath slowly, and got up from his chair. He headed toward the exit of the planetarium and said as he went to the exit,

"It seems that you have no intention of telling me your true identity. It makes no difference to me. In any case, I have learn valuable information regarding the heart's egg, and I will apply it to my existing knowledge about them." Ulquiorra was halfway between where he sat and the exit. Arakawa did not say anything. Right before Ulquiorra exited the building, he stopped suddenly, slightly looked back at Arakawa, only exposing half his face, and expressed,

"I still believe that this building is a waste for staring at stars. If it was up to me, I'd have this place demolished." With those words, he departed from the planetarium. The founding King closed his eyes, and sat himself in one of the seat, He pulled out a deck of cards, and from the 52 cards that were in this deck, he pulled out the Joker card.

"I sense a great challenge for the Joker and her friends. It will prove a great hardship for her to face, even with the support of her friends." His warm, gentle smile that was always on his face soon transformed to one that was a little concerned.

"But still, there runs the possibility of all of them not being up for the challenge, and quite possibly…" He stopped in mid-sentence and took a sip of tea, and looked up at the night sky that presided over the planetarium. He then reached his hand in between the seat where Ulquiorra was sitting and pulled out a playing card. He brought it up to his face along with the joker's card. Now, he was staring at two cards, one with a joker, and other a blank card, with no markings whatsoever—an empty card.

* * *

Lulu was in a terrible mood today. When she got up from bed, she accidently tripped and hit her knee on the wooden floor. Next, at breakfast, she burned herself with the food her father prepared, even though he warned her that it was hot and could burn herself. When she left, a couple of cats managed to run be her, scaring her and making her fall and his her bottom. But the worst part was when she got a phone call from the director stating that he had a special task for her. When he explained it, she sounded accepting and understand, but in reality, she was quite mad about what the director wanted her to do. Without any choice, she angrily walked to the point of interest. And now, she was walking through the city with Ulquiorra five step behind her. She did not want the public to know that he was associated with him (because of his clothes and the fact the she dislikes him after Nana's explanation).

The first task was to find somebody Lulu could exploit his or her dreams. She usually didn't have much trouble with that because she was alone, but with Ulquiorra, it could prove to be quite arduous, so they just wandered throughout the city, having the public's eyes slowly gravitate towards them. Ulquiorra didn't care, but Lulu was mortified by this thought. She decided to look back to see how Ulquiorra was holding up. She sneakily turned her head to see and saw his blank stare making contact with her eyes. She jumped, and marched on forward at a faster pace, while Ulquiorra kept his walking speed.

They both came across a mini park that had two swing and a slide, but there was no children to be found playing in it, so Lulu went up to one of the swings and sat down and gave a big exhaust due to her being mentally exhausted. Nana was besides her, trying to air her to cool her down, but she quickly got behind her as soon as Ulquiorra entered the park. All that time Nana was with Lulu, Nana could feel Ulquiorra's power engulfing her to the point that she felt suffocated. She endured it though, for Lulu's sake of finding the Embryo. Lulu started to swing back and forth using one of her legs. When she looked up, she saw Ulquiorra standing five feet from where she was with his hands in his pockets.

"Why are you following me? I just want to be alone." She grumbled.

"I have orders from the director to follow you and observe your method of finding the Embryo." Ulquiorra reiterated to Lulu.

"I know. It was supposed to be rhetorical." She grunted. She got up from the swing and turned her back to Ulquiorra while crossing her arms together. She really did not want to be with him. All she knew was the quicker she found a person, the sooner Ulquiorra stops following her.

"I have read the reports, but I want you to tell me about it. I was under the impression that there was only heart's eggs and X-eggs, but from the reports, it tells of a third egg type. Explain what an Enigma egg is." Ulquiorra states.

"You will see for yourself what an enigma egg is, but for now, just stay back and be patient." Lulu fired back at him. Ulquiorra noticed the change in her tone from when they first met.

"Your personality is quite different than when I first met you." he added.

Right as she was going to retaliate with an argument, a familiar voice sneakily filled the air, and it was fast approaching. Both Lulu and Ulquiorra could easily identify the voice belonging to her. Lulu quickly got in front of the entrance to the park and peer her head out, and she was greeted with the sight of Amu. She was the second person she did not want to see today of all days, but she expected much since her strategy planned for Amu to appear. Amu was not alone. Walking with her on her left was Tadase, but that was it; there was no signs of the other Guardians. Both were heading her was. Lulu had to react fast.

"It's Amu! Quick, hide!" blurted Lulu, but the minute she turned around, she was talking to nobody. Ulquiorra just vanished. A big question mark hung over her head as she tried to contemplate how he managed to hide himself without her noticing. She turned to Nana, but she was with Lulu looking at the approaching Guardians, so she did not pay attention to Ulquiorra. She disregarded it and returned to sneakily watching Amu. She peeked out and was greeted with a torso. She froze immediately, and slowly looked up to see the face of a confused Amu and Tadase.

"Lulu, what are you doing." Amu asked. Lulu stood there frozen for a good five seconds before she realized what was going on. She speedily postured herself, crossed her arms, and raised her chin while looking away.

"Hmpf. I was… looking for something important. That's all." She was sweating profoundly as she finished her explanation. Amu and Tadase looked at each other, and looked back to Lulu.

"If you lost something, we can help you find it." Amu offered.

"No, thank you. I am perfectly capable of finding that thing I lost without **your** help." She retorted as soon as Amu ended her sentence. She glared at Amu and looked over both shoulders to confirm something.

"Where are the others? Are you two on some sort of date?" It took a second before the question sunk in.

"Heh…? NO! We are not on a date! All the Guardians planned to go to the mall today, but Nagihiko, Rima, and Yaya all had something come up, so that left Tadase and I to go to the mall." She explained while moving her hands back and forth with an exaggerated expression with sweat drops racing down her face. Tadase just stood there with his head slightly tilted and a big question mark over his head.

"Whatever. I don't care if you guys are on a date or not. I have to return to finding that thing that I lost." She turned to her side and walked forward through the mini-park. When she got to the other side, she turned to her left and vanished behind the wall. Amu and Tadase watched her off.

"I wonder what she is looking for." Tadase stated. "Whatever it is, I hope that she finds it." They both soon returned to the initial journey to reach the mall.

"That was a close one, Nana." She exasperated as soon as she got behind the wall. She did not expect to run into Amu this early on her task. But in a way, it makes sense because whenever she marks an egg with a question mark, Amu just so happens to be in the vicinity to do combat with it. She is always a nuisance to her by foiling her plans every time she makes an enigma egg. But all of that is in the past. Her objective is to find the Embryo at whatever cost for her mother, and she will endure anything, even going on a field task with Ulquiorra. Her curiosity was raised when she thought about Ulquiorra because he just disappeared without saying anything.

"I wonder where Ulquiorra disappeared to." She said out loud.

"It seems that Hinamori Amu knows who you are." A voice spoke out. The voice caused Lulu to jump a little. She looked to Nana, and she had that same expression she has when that person is near. She turned around and saw Ulquiorra standing three feet away from her with his hands in his pockets and that disturbing expression he always gives. The stare he was giving her were like daggers piercing away at her confidence.

"So what if she does, she also knows other people who work for Easter like…." She stopped herself from saying his name. She did not know why, but it just didn't feel right to give small amounts of information to Ulquiorra, especially the knowledge that Ikuto has some sort of relationship with Amu. Though she did not know the details of that relationship, it didn't feel right to tell Ulquiorra about those two. She did not notice it, but she found herself caring for the enemy again. Though she managed to stop herself from completing her sentence, Ulquiorra did not disregard it. That incomplete sentence gave him some clue about what she was going to say; however, it will have to wait for he is in the middle of an assignment from the director

"Never mind. She does not know that I am the one creating the Enigma eggs. And besides, there are benefits to me if she thinks that I might be an ally." She stated. "Right now, let's just tail her. I might be able to find a suitable target. And with that, they both began tailing Amu and Tadase, her keeping a good distance between them, and Ulquiorra keeping a farther distance. He knows that if he got too close to Amu and her friend, then their guardian angels would be able to sense his presence, even with him suppressing his spiritual pressure to the best of his ability.

 _Let us see what you are up to today. I know you said it was not a date, you alone with a boy obviously points toward a date._ Lulu thought to herself.

* * *

Amu was quite silent after her unexpected meeting with Lulu. The idea that she was on a date with Tadase was unthinkable, unthinkable to the point where one can't help to not think about it. She was again alone with the person she likes, the person that she has admired from a distance, and through chance, she was able to become friends with him. Every day, it seems that she is getting closer to him, even if it is be centimeters or millimeters. A small warmth's burned in her chest as she could not deny that she liked that it was just the two of them. She let out a small smile, a smile that Tadase was able to catch from the corner of his eyes. The sight of her smiling was enough for him to smile.

They walked for several minutes until they reached the mall.

"Well, we finally made it. Let's go have some fun." Tadase said enthusiastically.

"Yes, let's" Amu agreed with.

She suddenly stopped.

"Is everything alright, Hinamori-san?" Tadase questioned.

"Yes. I'm alright. I was just thinking about Lulu's situation."

"Oh. I would have liked to help, but she did not want any help."

"Yeah… Anyway, let us get back to business."

She lied to him…

That was not what she was thinking. When she was at the front of the mall, she was overcome by some unpleasant sensation that she was being watched. She turned around, only to see a sea of people flowing through the sidewalks. She felt that any one of them could be watching her. The idea that Ikuto could be around first came to mind, but the way Ikuto looks at her is not the same as the way she thinks she is being watched. Then something Ikuto said came to mind.

 _It did not originate from Easter, but Easter has something planned."_

Could this weird feeling be a response to what Easter is doing. Is Easter watching her at this very moment? This thought was unsettling, but she has think of it as a possibility so she can be prepared for whatever they throw at her.

"Hinamori-san, are you not coming?" Tadase yelled from a distance, break her thoughts and bringing her back to the situation at hand

"Yeah, I'm coming." She replied. For now, she was going to enjoy herself with, in her own words, the gathering of a friend who is a boy and nothing else.

During their time together, they visited several shopping areas. They went to a clothing store, where they browsed all the possible clothing options to buy. They visited a pet store where they got to hold puppies and kittens. Kiseki was fortunate enough to be pounced by one of the kittens as he got too close. He demanded that it got off of him. All the others found it sweet and funny to watch Kiseki ordering a cute kitten to release him while it was just playing with him. From anyone from an outside perspective, this gathering of friend would be on a date; however, it is not by Amu's standards. There was one point where the manager of the pet store commented that it was nice for a couple to go into his her pet store and play with the animals. She responded by speaking very fast and ensuring her that what they were on was not a date. The manager acquiesced her claim, but deep down, she knows that it was a date, and her denying that it was made Amu seem cute.

* * *

"They are so on a date. Deny as much as you can, the truth is that everybody knows that it is a date." Lulu explains to Nana, as they watch from across the mall on the second floor. It has been an hour since she began to follow Amu. From all the actions she has done within the mall, it all points to a date, no matter who was watching. She took a sip of her soda and signed.

"Who knew that following somebody was so tiresome?" The only good part about the spying was Ulquiorra deciding to observe her on his own. When they reached the mall, everybody was staring at both of them; A young, blonde girl, and a pale-white person with half a helmet. She knew that with him around, stealth would be very difficult to achieve and could alert Amu about her presence. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but if she caught her with him around, who knows what could happen. It was at that point that she turned to him and explained to him to beat it. He took it quite well, but then again, she thinks that nothing could move him, not even attempting to attack him for she thinks he could protect himself. The cold expression says it all.

"Very well, but I will still continue my reconnaissance from a more-hidden position. Note that I will be watching both Hinamori Amu and you, Lulu de Morcerf Yamamoto. I still desire to see this Enigma egg, and I will require a proper explanation from you." That is what he said to her before he left her. To know that she was being watched was unnerving for her. When she thought about it, it was her watching Amu while Ulquiorra watched her and Amu. Talk about irony she thought. Lulu looked around to see if she can find him, but there was no trace of him. How can somebody who wears cosplays hide in such a populace area? She was so sure that he would stick out like a sore thumb.

 _He's good…a little too good for my comfort._

"Lulu, do you have a sec?" Nana asked.

"Of course I do. What is on your mind?"

"I think Ulquiorra was not only interested in spying on Amu. I think… he has been watching us as well." She stated.

"Of course he been watching us. He said so before we went into the mall." Lulu pointed out.

"That's not what I mean. I mean before that; when we first met up. No… it goes far beyond that. I think he has been watching us from the very moment we first met."

"How so?" Lulu indulges her.

"The way he looks at us, at everybody, is one that endeavors to extract as much information as possible. I caught him a couple of times just staring at you with purpose rather than just for following. And the worst part is that I think he knows that I have seen him watching you." She hesitated. "Lulu, please be careful around him. I do not trust him, and I have a feeling that he feels the same with the both of us."

Lulu took a moment to process this. She can hear the worry and trepidation within her guardian angel's warning about Ulquiorra. She did not trust him the moment she first met him, and now with Nana expressing her concern, this gave her more reason as to not trust him, but due to them both working for Easter, she is forced to recognized him as an ally, an ally the she doesn't trust. But he is an ally, and she has to find the Embryo for her mother, so her only option was to trust him until she found no more use for him, like Easter.

"Thank you for your concern, Nana. I will keep that in mind in the future." As soon as she was finished with her conversation with Nana, her attention was turned towards her right, as she was greeted with the sight of a young girl about her age. She had long, lushes blue hair in a ponytail with a square-shape pin holding it in place. She wore a shirt with a cardigan over it along with a knee-high skirt and black shoes and black stocking reaching her knees. From where Lulu was sitting, she can hear what this girl was saying.

"Wow! I wish I can become beautiful so I can become an Idol, just like Utau." She said as she was watching a T.V. with Utau fashioning off some new clothes while walking down the cat walk. Her eyes just glowed with enthusiasm of just watching Utau showing off new clothes. It was her dream to become a model, but she had her doubts.

"Who am I kidding? There is a very small chance of me becoming a idol, especially at the caliber of Utau, but still, it would be a dream come true if that were to happen."

A perfect target…

She took one last sip from her soda, arose up from her seat, and began her approach. _You wanted to see an Enigma Egg, Ulquiorra? Well, I hope you're watching._

"You there." She shouts to grab the girl's attention. The blue-haired girl turns towards Lulu, seeing if it was her that she wanted.

"You want to become a model, right? Well, I can help you make your dream come true." She rummaged through one of her pockets, and retrieved a neckless. The neckless had a bright, sparkling ruby in the shape of an oval. The girl found the jewelry Lulu brought out intriguing. She stared at the ruby for a while, like she was seeing all her dreams encapsulated inside that small red rock. She kept staring at it, mesmerized by the beauty it possessed, much similar to the light and radiance a idol possesses.

"You can fulfill your dream if you take this jewelry. If you don't take the initiative right now, then your dream will be lost. Don't hesitate; Act now, and your dream will come true." She walked up to the girl, and dropped the jewel in the palm of her hand. The girl kept starring at the jewel she was just given, having the burning sensation that she can achieve anything she wants, including her dream to become a idol. Her heart egg appeared on the left of her, but then it changed to red, with a big question mark forming in the middle. Her arms began to tremble with exciting due to her being so close to her dream, her improbable dream, to become a model.

"Do not hesitate! Just do what you want, and you dream will come true!" Lulu declared.

 _Character Change…_

Consciousness faded from her eyes. She placed her new jewelry around her neck and gave off an eerie smile. She turned around and walked away, repeating the same phrase over and over… _My dream…my dream… my dream…_

Now, it was a waiting game for the Embryo to show itself. With Amu in the vicinity, it will be a matter of time before she catches wind of the Enigma egg. And with that, her job was completed. The one thing left for her to complete before she is finished is to meet up with Ulquiorra so she can discuss the events that transpired, then he will be out of her hair, and she could enjoy the rest of her day.

 _He really does give me the creeps._ She thought to herself.

* * *

Ikuto roamed through the city. He was assigned a special task direct from the director to investigate an area with an unusual high concentration of X-egg appearances. His duty was essentially a janitor—to clean up after the messes Easter makes, which usually is dealing with any X-eggs that have been deemed garbage to Easter eyes. But lately, he has been tasked with collecting them. He was not told much as to why he was collecting them, but he was assigned that. He did not ask question for he knew that questioning could be troublesome for him. Plus, it would be useless for him to argue against the director, or else bad things would happen. On his way toward the area, something caught his attention from the distance. Feeling obligated to see what it was, he made a right turn and went down that road.

"Ikuto, where are you going, nya? That is not the way to where we need to go." Interjected Yoru.

He remained silent, hearing his guardian's words, but he still proceeded forward. By going down the road, he found himself on the east side of the mall. Upon inspection, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Not even a single thing seem strange. Whatever it was, there was a reason as to why this thing he saw brought him here. Many people passed by, and thanks to his cat-like hearing, he was able to eavesdrop on everybody that was around. He did not like to invade other people's privacy, but he had to because there was something off about today. He closed his eyes, and concentrated on the voiced around him. His breathing became soft, his heart rate slowed, and he allowed himself to concentrate.

 _Did you see that new movie that came out recently?_

 _No, not yet, but I want to so badly…_

 _Look, there is a sale on clothes today. Two for one…_

 _I don't like what Sakamoto-san said about the school…_

 _I guess you could say that he is a forerunner of the whole thing._

Ikuto did this for a while, listening to the words that filled the air, and narrowing it down to a single individual. Nothing was of interest so far, until he found the reason why he came here.

 _Did you see that cosplayer with that blonde, French girl? What do you think that was all about?_

 _I don't know. The way he was dressed seemed to me like he was at some convention. I mean, have you see anything like that. Wearing half a helmet, dressed in white, and heavy make-up. Maybe it is part of a new anime I haven't heard about._

It's him.

There was no question that the two personages those two people were talking about were none other than Lulu and Ulquiorra. But the question was why they were together? What can those two be possibly up to? From what Yoru said to him, Nana could feel his power, and by Yoru's descriptions about Ulquiorra, he did not like the idea of those two working together, and he gets the feeling that Lulu felt the same. Call it a hunch. So why? Two elderly people passed by Ikuto, and he caught what they were saying.

 _Did you see that cute couple today. To date at such a young age? They're bold. And what extraordinary pink hair color the girl had. I sure miss my youth…_

He opened his eyes, his concentration loosened, and his heart rate returned to normal for the most part. He could feel his heart rate beating a little faster than usual. He began taking steps towards the mall.

"Ikuto, where are you going, nya? We have an assignment." Yoru said concerned.

"We're taking a detour." Ikuto responded. Though he would never admit it, he was worried for Amu, and he did not like the idea of Ulquiorra being in the same area as Amu. It did not sit right with him, and that would be enough for him to put his own safety on the line to ensure that Amu would come out safely from all this.

* * *

"Amu-chan!" Miki shouted. "I sense an Enigma egg nearby." Amu's day of fun and excitement ended for the day with the announcement of an Enigma egg nearby. Her smile faded to adopt a more-serious attitude for the situation presented to her For she knows how powerful the transformations of Enigma eggs are, and they do present a challenge for her and the guardians.

"Do you know where the Enigma egg is?" she questioned.

"It's coming from over here. Follow me!" Miki shouted. Amu and Tadase followed their guardian angels through the entire mall. They made a lot of turns, and had to travel up and down stairs. They passed several ski bridges, and had to deal with quite a lot of traffic as the mall's hallways were packed with shoppers, proving to be difficult for them to weave through them. The Miki and the others could sense the egg as they got closer and closer to where it was. All their running around led them to a store—a clothing store. Amu recognized the store; it was one of those clothing stores that sold designer clothing, something Amu would eventually visited, but due to certain circumstances, it would have to be moved up to now with different intentions rather than shopping. They entered the store and right off the back, they felt the irregularities of the store. There was nobody inside the store, not even the employees. It was as empty as a parking lot during the night, though that does not mean that they were the only ones there.

"Stay on your guard, Hinamori-san. Who knows where the Enigma egg is," warned Tadase. They took their steps with caution, not knowing what to expect once inside this store. Suddenly, Amu tripped on something and landed on the ground. Upon closer inspection of what she tripped on, it was one of the employees who worked inside the store. They inspected the ground more, and found more people unconscious on the ground, both employees and customers. They knew the Enigma egg was responsible. Without warning, the metal barrier located at the entrance fell from the ceiling, effectively cutting off their means of escaping. The lights inside of the store dimmed down to the point where both Amu, Tadase, and the rest of the guardians could barely see. Lights then began flicker on and off coming from the ground. A low-level mist began to cover the floor. All of this set up was followed by a voice that echoed throughout the store.

"Ladies and gentleman, we appreciate your patience and are glad you all have come to this spectacular event. And now, the moment you have all been waiting for, please put your hands together for... Miyafugi Yuki!"

Coming out of the dressing rooms, a girl wearing some of the best, well-known designer clothing appeared in front of them. Boots made out of the finest leather in the world with a skirt made out of silk with jewels studded in rows. She also wore a tank top with a black blazer and a black, loosely-tied tie around her neck. Accompanying the tie was a big, red ruby neckless. Certain lights turned back on only to focus their energy towards the approaching girl. Creepily coming out of the shadows was the Enigma egg that positioned itself right above her. It took notice of the two bystanders and their guardian angels watching its owner parade out of the dressing rooms. Once Yuki came to the end of her presentation, she turned to Amu to ask her a question.

"Well, what do you think? Now my dream of becoming an idol will come true."

"Please, you have to stop. You don't know what you are doing." Amu begged, hoping nothing would happen.

"Stop?! Why? I finally have a chance to make it big as an idol, and now you are going to try stop me." That sentence began it fill with anger as she responded to Amu's concern. She began to glare at the pink-haired girl. An epiphany then came to her. She clenched her fist, and pointed in the direction of Amu. "Oh. I see. You just don't want me to achieve my dream because you also want to be an idol. Is that it? Well, I am not going to back down from this. From hence fourth, **you will be my rival!** " The Enigma then gave off an ominous smile, and opened its gaping mouth. Ran, Miki, and Su shuddered as they all knew what was coming. The Enigma egg swooped down, eating Yuki whole in one bite. It stayed there for a second, only for a horizontal zig-zag crack forming across the middle. The crack went throughout the whole egg, as the approaching danger was coming. The egg exploded, sending the top and bottom part of the shell flying and exposing the newly-transformed Yuki.

"Character Transformation: Idol Dream!"

She wore a long, red, gorgeous dress that was on the verge of touching the ground. Throughout the entirety of the dress, question marks were present. On the back of the dress were wings; the one on the right baring white feathers resembling those of angels, and the one on the left with black fur and sharp ends bearing a resemblance to devils. Her hair color changed from a light, sky-blue to a more dark, ocean blue on a cold night. She wore wrist band on both her arms that bore a singular question mark on them. After her introduction, she began to levitate off the ground, rising up about nine feet. She slowly raised up her hands from her side until they were extended into the air, looking like she was trying to reach something. The clothes from within the store began to shake. The shaking became more intense, almost like there was an earthquake just in the store. Suddenly, a sleeve from a jacket off a clothes' line stretched fourth and wrapped itself around Tadase's left arm. It wrapped around his arm tighter to the point a tingling sensation overcame his arm. He tried to pull his hand away, but the grip around his arm was too tight for him to break himself free. Another sleeve from a different rack pounced fourth and went for Amu's right hand. But with her reflexes, or possibly dumb luck, she pulled her hand away just in time to avoid the sleeve's vicious grasp but at the cost of losing her balance and falling on the floor. More sleeves from various clothes began to slither up in the air, giving the imitation of snakes readying themselves strike at a moment's notice.

"Resistance is futile. Just let yourself be fall into the enigma that is Yuki." She pompously exclaimed to Amu.

"What are you talking about?" Amu retorted. "Look around you. Do you see anybody that has fallen into you?"

"You're just jealous that nobody will ever take the time to notice you, like they have noticed me!" She barked back. It was clear that she trying to reason with her was became a waist of effort, so the only other choice was to stop her. She glanced over at a trapped Tadase, starred into his eyes, and gave a slight nod. He did the same.

"Miki!" She said. Mike floated up to her because the other two had their hands full being trapped by the sleeves.

"Let's do this!" she expressed as she got back up on her feet.

"My Heart! Unlock!" A radiant light engulfed Amu as she underwent her transformation with Miki. The light grew brighter and harder to look directly at her to see what is occurring. A light-blue blouse soon appeared from the blinding light. It had a tied ribbon on the back with frilly sleeves. A dark-blue pair of shorts tagged along with the blouse and a pair of striped-blue stocking also appeared. They were being held up with a garter belt. Brown boots appeared on her feet and cap very similar to what Miki wears appeared on her head. In her right hand appeared a giant paint brush about the size of her body.

"Character Transformation: Amulet Spade!"

She landed right beside Tadase, and with her giant paint brush, she swung it at the sleeves restricting him, freeing him and Kiseki. Yuki grinded her teeth upon the actions Amu performed.

"Oh no you don't!" And with that, more sleeves came upon Tadase and Kiseki, successfully restricting both of them yet again. Tadase had several sleeves around various limbs, and was forced on the ground, while Kiseki just had one sleeve wrapped around his body, but effectively keeping a tight grip as to prevent any type of escape. Amu barely managed to evade the clothes' pounce and evade the same fate as Tadase; she knew she was going to have to take on this opponent on her own.

"Amu-chan, be careful. If we get restrained, then it is going to become very difficult to stop her." Miki warned Amu.

"Thanks, Miki. I'll try and do my best to avoid her attacks." She then found Yuki looking at her with much scrutiny.

"Hmmm? As much as it pains me to say it, you do look great in that outfit, but hardly as good as me." She then raised her hand, showing her palm to Amu.

"Now, restrict her. Gauntlet hold!" Her gauntlet's material began to stretch out, mimicking like it had two tentacles, and in a split second, extended out at a high speed towards Amu. Amu jumped, narrowly avoiding the two tentacles of the gauntlet.

"I got you now! Designer's grab!" Clothes from the hangers began to float into the air. Yuki's hand seemed to control clothes' actions. Her hand was stretched fourth with her fingers pointing to the ceiling and her palm up. During that duration, more clothes began to rise up at her command. Amu took on a battle stance in the air, preparing for anything that might jump at her. She continued to watch as more clothing began to occupy the tight airspace of the store. Yuki gave a smirk and quickly retracted her fingers like she was crushing something in the palm of her hand.

"Crush her…" And with that, the clothes gravitated towards Amu at a very alarming rate. She took on evasive maneuver, dodging jackets from the left, pants and skirts from the right, and shirts and tank tops from behind. She kept at this for quite a while, successfully dodging all sorts of apparel, but a pair of jeans was her down fall as the hit her from behind, causing her to flinch, and causing her lose focus, giving the clothes the perfect window to strike, causing a domino effect. More clothes pounded her from all side, accumulating on her body, forming sphere of clothes. It got to the point where it became too heavy for her to stay in the air, and eventually fell to the ground. Tadase was still constrained as Amu was being attacked by a barrage of clothing. He could not feel but a bit angry that he could not help Amu as she was being overpowered by shirts, jeans, and jackets. He tried to escape her grasp of the clothes, but he soon found out that the more he struggled, the more the clothes around him grew tighter around his limbs. He kept struggling, and she clothes grew tighter. He kept on doing it until he exhausted himself. He looked back towards Amu's directing, and a horrific expression soon possessed him. No sight of Amu could be seen, only a completed sphere of clothes, 3 feet in radius, to where Amu once was.

"Hinamori-san!" Shouted Tadase, but there was no reply. Yuki only gave an expressionless face as she saw the sphere of clothes she created.

"Hmpf. I told her she was no match for me. Now, it is time that I go and spread my dream all over Japan." She turned her back towards the ball, and floated away. But then she stopped. She felt that something was not right. She turned around and examined the ball of clothes once more. It wiggled. The wiggling turned to shaking, and shaking turned to crumbling.

"Colorful Canvas!" Colorful light escaped though the crack of the sphere of clothes. More cracks formed, and more light peaked out of them. An explosion of clothes ensued, creating a very bright light, too bright to see directly, causing Yuki to shield her eyes, and Tadase to look away. Once the light died down, Yuiki unshielded her eyes, only to find an angry Amu standing at the epicenter of the explosion with her paint brush in pointed down and in her right hand.

"That's enough! Take a look around you. Do you see what you have caused?" Amu lashed out angrily.

"What are you talking about?" she barked at her.

"Take a look. Do you see anybody that is mesmerized or happy about your dream?" It was then that she took notice of the unconscious people littered around the store with a pained expression as they laid there. She then turned her attention to a tired and pained Tadase as he lied there with clothes gripped around his arms and legs to the point where they were about to cut off circulation. Her hand took the shape of a clenched fist. Amu continued.

"I think that your dream to become a model is wonderful. I know that you want to bring people a smile, and that could still be if you pursue your dream the right way." Yuki took a moment for herself. Upon hearing Amu's word, she finally understood that what she was doing was not her dream. She wanted to be a idol because she saw that idols were able to place smiles on everybody. That is what she essentially wanted, but with the sight of all those unconscious people and Tadase, she realized that her dream to be a idol and bring fourth happiness has been perverted, and essentially turned itself into a nightmare. She did not bring any sort of happiness, only sadness as people laid on the ground unconscious as proof. She knew she must stop pursuing this nightmare of a reality. The question marks all over her dress all morphed into X's, and an outline of an X-egg enclosed around her.

It was time...

"Negative heart: Lock on!" The Humpty lock began to shoot out rays in the shape of hearts. More heart-shape rays kept shooting out towards Yuki at a faster rate.

"Open Heart!" A big beam shot fourth from her chest, causing the outline of the X-egg to disappear. A warmth filled the entire store as an unconscious Yuki gently floated toward the ground. Her heart's egg slowly floated toward her chest, and calmly floated into her chest, back to its home—inside the heart. Another purification successful. Amu turned her attention to Tadase, who began getting off the floor as the sleeves no longer constrained him anymore. She went to his side and offered her hand to him. He gave a smile and accepted her offer.

"Well done, Hinamori-san. You did an excellent job cleansing that Enigma egg." He complimented. Her cheeks began to turn red by his compliment. She liked it, but she cannot give the impression to Tadase that she really liked his compliment, so….

"I-it was nothing. I was just doing what anybody would have done. That's all." She defended herself.

"There it is again. Amu-chan's stubborn side." Ran added.

"I am not stubborn." Amu interjected, but immediately backfiring on her as she only gave proof to Ran about her stubbornness. Ran and Su could not help but think that it made her cute the more she denies her stubbornness. The conversation would have to be postponed as the screams of a woman filled the whole store.

"GAHHHHHH! What happened to my store? Why are my employees and customers on the floor? Who did this? Whoever is responsible for trashing my store will regret the day they ever walked this store!" The store manager threatened to anybody who was listening. Amu and Tadase's eyes focus on an awakening Yuki who was rubbing her eyes and trying to piece together what has happened to her. They looked at her, then each other.

"I think it would be best that we don't tell the manager who was responsible for her sake, but we should help clean it up." Tadase suggested.

"That sounds good." Amu agreed. Both of them confronted the store manager, expressing their sorrow for what has happen, to which the store manager accused both of them of trashing her store. They both denied that accusation and explained that they will gladly help clean up the mess made by some "random" person. The manager apologized and expressed her gratitude about how they were going to help her clean up the store. That is how Amu and Tadase spend their afternoon. If Amu was able to transform with Su, then they would be done so much faster, but since there were others present, then she will have to clean with her own two hands. At least she gets to have the luxury of doing so with Tadase.

* * *

Lulu walked out of the mall, feeling quite satisfied with herself. She was able to find somebody to exploit her dreams, which meant that her special assignment was officially over. She could now go home, eat dinner with her mom and dad, take a good, well-deserved bath, and spent the rest of that night doing whatever she wanted. As she was going home, she found herself walking towards the small park where she encountered Amu. When she got to the park, she noticed a figure standing in the middle of the urban park. Nana hid behind Lulu's head, for she knew that the person standing in the park was none other than Ulquiorra. It looked like to Lulu that he was waiting for her. The way he was standing and just looking up into the sky indicated that he was in deep thought. Ulquiorra's eyes than twitched over to a surprised Lulu. She was surprised because she wondered how long Ulquiorra waited.. She also wondered how he managed to get here without anybody noticing him. Ulquiorra turned to her, with his body facing her.

"The Enigma egg is quite interesting. You are able to force a transformation with that jewelry of yours." Ulquiorra commented.

"I am able to give false hope to a person. Once I have done that, I am able to corrupt their eggs by giving them jewelry I created, turning their eggs into Enigma eggs. Then they will perform a corrupt version of a character transformation, and with that, it should be able to lure out the Embryo. Now that you know, this task is over, which means are temporary partnership is over as well. Now leave me alone because I have other things to do." Lulu expressed. Ulquiorra did not find any insult to her comment.

"The power these Enigma eggs exhibit is short of nothing special."

This caught Lulu's attention.

"What do you mean by that?" Lulu expressed sternly.

"While it is true that you are able to exploit those trash's dreams with that jewelry of yours, it will not be enough for you to draw out the Embryo. In fact, this tactic of yours is quite similar to the tactics used by a former agent, who quit on his own accord and is now a school teacher. But then again, I should expect nothing less form somebody who would use such tactics on the weak."

"What is that supposed to mean!?" Lulu said with anger boiling up in her.

"Our cooperation is over. I have obtained the basic information of your method and witnessed yet another transformation of Hinamori Amu. Consider our cooperation complete." On that note, Ulquiorra turned his back towards her and proceed to leave the park. As soon as Ulquiorra was no longer visible, Lulu could not help but say out loud,

"I hate that guy so much."

* * *

 _As a disclaimer, the names I chose were from other shows I watched because I had a hard time coming up with Japanese names. There is also another reference to another franchise that is not anime related._


	6. Ch 6 Intimidation

_As an April fool's joke, I have decided to upload the next chapter. I hope that all of those who have read this find this chapter compelling._

 **Ch. 6 Intimidation**

Nightfall sneakily approached as Ikuto finished his task requested by Easter. He did not have any trouble with the X-eggs as he thought. Usually, he was a janitor and cleaned up whatever X-eggs were in the Area, but this task was different. Instead of destroying the X-eggs, he was asked to capture them and bringing them back to Easter. For this task, he was given a special bag that will allow him to subdue the X-eggs energy once in the bag so they don't run amok when returning to Easter. It was odd for Easter to ask him to bring back X-eggs, but it was better not to ask questions and to do what they want. The why behind his task can be easily be learned if Ikuto can managed to peak at secret files. He can do that later though. He took notice of the blue night sky over him as he finished rounding up the last X-eggs. He would have completed his task sooner around sunset if he hadn't taken a detour to the mall.

 _Flashback…_

Ikuto stood on the roof of the mall, looking through the transparent glass ceiling of the mall so that he can have a bird's eye view of what was happening. It took little effort for him to climb on top of the building, seeing that he possessed cat-like abilities that allowed him maneuver his way towards the roof. As far as what he can see, it was just a mesh of people swimming through the mall in a scrunched up area. He was quite impressed of how a clutter of people can effectively move smoothly in such a space. It would be to his advantage if he was on the roof instead inside the mall because he is well aware Amu and Tadase are inside the sea of mallgoers; that detail was of no concern of him. The concern the bothered him was that Lulu and Ulquiorra are also in the mall, with Ulquiorra being the bigger problem—Lulu was somebody Amu can well stand up to in his mind, so she was of no concern to him. He knew that Easter was up to something, but he did not know what. Easter never really tells Ikuto anything about their agenda seeing that in their eyes, he was just a puppet, and puppets don't need to know anything, so long as he can carry out task, and refusing was not really an option for Ikuto. The main reason allowed him to pick up on Easter's hidden motives was because Ulquiorra and Lulu were working together. Ikuto knows Lulu would never willingly work with Ulquiorra, so it begs the question why Easter is making those two cooperate? It was at this point Yoru floated up to Ikuto and whispered into his ear about the presence of an Enigma egg. He had no doubt that Lulu was the person behind the enigma egg; Easter has employed her for the use of her tactic in creating Enigma eggs to lure out the Embryo. So why did they want him around Lulu? He is confident that Easter knows she can perform her task by herself, so why did they put him with Lulu? Ikuto thought about this for quite a while until…

"Ikuto! Look over there!" Yoru hollered. Ikuto focused his attention towards where Yoru was pointing, and greeting his eyes was a blue-haired girl walking aimlessly through the mall. Her arms dangling on her sides, almost mimicking some sort of zombie motion. Closer inspection revealed that her mouth was moving, and from her movement of her mouth, it seemed as though she was repeating the same words. Ikuto could not read lips well, so that only left him one option. Cat ears appeared on his head. Since the people were sardined inside the mall, it would be considerably more arduous for him to focus when the voices of hundreds of people are drowning out a single voice. He was going to need extra help, and a character change would provide that help. His ears focused on the sound, endeavoring to select the whisper from the sea of noise. _My dream…my dream… my dream…._ She just kept repeating those same set of words. It was at this point Ikuto noticed something red hiding behind her blue hair. He moved himself to have a better angle, tilting to the left sideways to acquire the view he needed. He was not surprised as to what the floating red object was… an Enigma egg. Ikuto took into account the direction she was walking. He looked to the right of her, and sure enough, Lulu was standing in front of a television watching her off. It seems as though she was doing her duty, but where was Ulquiorra? He did not see him with Lulu? To get some answers, Ikuto honed in on Lulu to see if she is saying anything. He again shuffled through the noises and had to wait until Lulu started talking.

"Finally done with the hard part. Spying on Amu did test my patience, and I think it paid off. I accomplished what I needed to do for him, and now, I can relax and do whatever I want.

"…" another voice replying to her, but it was too quiet to pick out from the sea of a thousand voices.

"I know. I have to meet up with him later to explain what I did, but that can wait. Right now, I don't care what he is up to. He is probably watching Amu as we speak."

"…"

"I think I saw a food stand earlier by the bookstore. Why don't we head over there and get something to eat."

He could tell she was speaking with Nana. There was nobody else around, so it was a safe assumption. He kept his eyes on her until she disappeared behind a wall.

"What did she say, nya?"

"It seems that Lulu was showing the new guy her methods of attracting the Embryo." Ikuto explained to Yoru. This was all nothing more than a demonstration for Ulquiorra. From what his Step-father explained, Ulquiorra was quite new to this, and he only had the basic information. The Director probably wanted him to know about the new type of egg to help expand his knowledge about the Heart's eggs. From the short time Ikuto has known Ulquiorra, he got the impression that Ulquiorra was the analytical type. The way he stares is with the same emotionless eyes, but Ikuto also felt that those same set of eyes are also used to gather information and to help him make logical inferences about the person or thing of interest. He may have known him for a short while, but that is the vibe Ikuto gets from him. When Ikuto was at Easter's headquarters, he has caught Ulquiorra reading a bunch of documents at Easter, most likely trying to catch up to speed about the current situation. But Ikuto got some sort of bad impression from what he was doing, so after Ulquiorra finished reading the files, Ikuto managed to sneak into the file room after hours and got a hold of the same material Ulquiorra was reading. Like Lulu, Ikuto did not trust Ulquiorra. He could never tell what he was thinking as he always kept that frown on his face like it was natural for him. He knows that he is keen. Ikuto feels like by talking to him, Ulquiorra would be able to uncover his motives, so he rather keep any conversation with Ulquiorra short.

Ikuto was about to head off to do his initial task before a disturbance in the crowd caught his attention. He could see people being forced to move out of the way for a person, much like how a salmon has to oppose the flow of the river by swimming upstream. The way this person got through the people was not by brute force, but rather in a polite, yet accretive way. Once the assailant got to a less dense area, the assailant was actually assailants, and these assailants happen to be Amu and Tadase. It was obvious why they were rushing thought the crowd… they must be on their way to confront the newly-formed Enigma egg.

"Should we help them, nya?" Yoru asked.

"No. she will be fine." He responded plainly. With no further reason for him to be in the mall, it was time for Ikuto to leave the mall and accomplish his task. He turned around as prepared himself to leap off the roof to the corresponding building until something stopped him. A cold vibe washed over his body as he was about to leave. It was 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit) and he suddenly felt cold. He looked over at Yoru as he was paralyzed by whatever draped over them. His hands shaking with a horrified expression plastered on his face. Ikuto reached out a placed him in his shirt pocket to help keep him safe. He turned back around to the mall and looked out the ceiling window. It was still the same crowd of people all trying to navigate their way through the mall, but something was amiss.

His eyes scanned the area, looking for any anomaly throughout the crowd of people. He spotted Lulu eating at a table with Nana happily enjoying herself to a cookie. Seeing those two enjoying their meal revealed to Ikuto that they must have not felt it. This could mean two things. Either this vibe was just a coincidence, or that the vibe was directed at him purposely. The thing about the vibe was that it was not new to him as he has felt something similar a couple of days ago. One of the mall's store metal frame suddenly came down. To some, it might be the store closing early, but to Ikuto, he knew that a battle was about to commence. If Lulu is eating with Nana, and Amu and Tadase were going to engage in battle, then where was Ulquiorra? He did not see him anywhere. How can it be hard to find somebody like him? He wore different close, so he should stand out like a sore thumb, and he is pretty sure that a mass of people would take notice of something dressed differently when everybody else wore normal, everyday cloths. This suddenly felt like a game of "Where's Waldo," but this time, Waldo wore highly unique cloths that picks him out of the crowd, and it was surprisingly difficult to find him. He turned his attention to Yoru, who was still sitting in Ikuto's shirt pocket terrified by the vibe.

"I-ikuto, c-can we l-leave, nya? I feel l-like that v-vibe was a s-sign telling us t-to l-leave." Sensing his Guardian's distress, Ikuto gave Yoru a nod, then turned around and headed towards his destination, far away from the mall.

* * *

So it bring him to now, him carrying a suspiciously, almost comical, large bag at night in the outskirts of town. He thought about that events that took place in the mall, and it bothered him that he could not find Ulquiorra. Yoru explained to Ikuto that the vibe they felt was almost similar to the one they felt on that night, and the time they first met Ulquiorra, which would only lead to the conclusion that Ulquiorra is the one responsible for sending that cold vibe. If Ulquiorra was responsible, then why did he only send it to Ikuto? Could it have been a warning for him to stay away, or was it a message just for him only? Going back to the files Ikuto sneakily read, he noticed that in all those files, there was one that had its header labeled "Hinamori Amu." Curious as to what the file contained about her, he opened it and read what was inside. It had basic information about Amu. Reports on encounters with her, relationships she has formed, and other personal information that Easter has managed to steal. Ikuto did not find it surprising since Easter had its shady connection with others, and could easily acquire any information they wanted. As he rummaged through all the papers in Amu's file, three of them were handled the most. The papers were on all three of her transformations. Before any inferences could be made as to why Ulquiorra would read through these, the sound of footsteps echoed through the street. Right now, he was standing on the side walk, and judging from where the footsteps came from, they resonated on his left. Ikuto turned to his left, and before his eyes, was a silhouette of a person. The darkness masqueraded the entire body, but once the mystery person stepped under the light pole, it was revealed to be the only hollow in this world. Ikuto did not like this.

"You completed your task from the director quite late. You should have been done by sunset." Ulquiorra stated.

"It was a lot more than I thought, and besides, you know why it took me so long to complete it." Ikuto responded. Ulquiorra kept his blank stare, waiting to see if he will say anything next, but silence prevailed.

"Why were you at the mall today? You had no business going at that place today?" Ikuto remained silent. Feeling like he did not have to answer to him, he began to walk forward, planning to pass him so that he can complete his task by delivering the eggs. Right as he was about to pass him, Ulquiorra spoke something that caused Ikuto to stop in his tracks.

"Did you come to see if she was okay?" he stated, hitting something inside Ikuto.

"You realize that she is the enemy, and Easter can't have you siding with the enemy. The director will not like that." Ulquiorra informed Ikuto but remained silent. Replying back will serve no help, at least with him anyway.

"I don't know what you are doing, and I don't know what you plan to gain if you do decided to act against Easter, but for your safety, I suggest you do not interfere with any of my affairs." He warned Ikuto, looking at him hard with his soulless, piercing eyes.

"What about you? Why have you gained in interest in her?" Ikuto replied back to Ulquiorra in a calm tone. His silence explained it all. The files he found, him being in the mall, it was obvious Ulquiorra has been keeping an eye on Amu.

Ikuto found this revelation unnerving.

"Do not interfere with any of my objectives. I am willing to bypass this incident, but if you continue to interfere with my affairs, then I can assure you that you will suffer the consequences. I will advise you to stay away from her." He stated again before he walked forward out of the light and back into the shadows. Ikuto watched him off as he slowly became a silhouette once more before he made a right and disappeared behind a building. With nothing more to do in the streets, Ikuto headed towards the Easter building to deposit the X-eggs he captured. For the rest of the night, Ikuto remained awake, still thinking about what he has discovered about the new agent. If there was one thing that he knows for certain, it is that Amu was in trouble, and he feels that she will not be able to overcome this new obstacle.

* * *

Ulquiorra finally has completed his task for the day, and was now heading towards a new place that he will call home. He stood in front of his door as he rummaged through his pocket to grab the key. In his left hand was an envelope he had opened earlier. It contained money, 111000 yen ($942), a whole week's worth of pay. He had no need for such human substance, but if he was going to be trapped here in the human world for an extended period of time, then he was going to need a place to sleep. He does not sleep often like a human, but he still needs to sleep from time to time in order to stay productive, so he needed a place to stay. Since he was Easter's new employee and a new resident of this city, Easter was generous enough to find him a new place for him to stay. They managed to find him an apartment located just outside of town, away from the suburbs. His room was nothing special: one bathroom, one bedroom, and a living room/kitchen area. This the type of place where people who are not making a lot of money would likely rent because it was only 41200 yen ($350) a month. Ulquiorra did not care whether it was a luxurious sweet or a ran-down building in a sketchy neighborhood, as long as he had a place for him rest, he would not be complaining.

He inserted the key into the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door, entering his new apartment called home. It was empty. There was nothing in his apartment that was used for recreational use. His living room did not have a table; it was just a chair in the middle of the room. There was no T.V., no heater, not even a single atom of decoration. The kitchen was connected the living room, and there was nothing just like it. The drawers were absent of any silverware. In one cover, there was a tea pot and in another cover, there was herbs and spices for him to make tea. He has grown accustom to drinking tea. This liking started when Lord Aizen would gather his Espada, and as a refreshment, there would be tea. He passed though the living room and went directly to his room. His room had a futon on the floor and that was it. A single window allowed moonlight to pass, illuminating enough of the room to see what is in it, but not enough to for anybody else to notice how dull and depressing it was inside that room. The wood cranked under his weight, the sound of the thick atmosphere from outside managed to bleed into his room, and the sheer darkness at night gave off a creepy feeling that would cause regular humans goosebumps to form. Seeing that it was in night, it was time for him to rest. Ulquiorra has been thinking of using the nights to sleep more because unlike in Las Noches, there was nothing to do 24 hours a day. Also, his duties to Easter took place during the day, and he knows the Hinamori Amu would not be active during the night. Being in the human realm gave him the sense for him to drop his guard a little, only for the night though. He placed his check right next to the futon for tomorrow he had to go pay rent for the apartment.

 _I have witnesses two out of the three transformations of Hinamori Amu. Once I have seen the last one for myself, I can proceed with further actions as to what to do with her and the Guardians. They do not pose a serious threat to me in any way…no, nobody in this world poses a threat to me in terms of strength; however, that is not to say I have my reservations. Tsukiyomi Ikuto, what are you planning? It would be for your own good to stay out of my way. I don't know what you plan to do with the Guardians, but if you in any way side with them, then I will have no choice but to stop you in any way possible._

* * *

Today was Sunday, the day of laziness, where one can do nothing for the rest of the day and feel no regret afterword. However, this luxury can only be experienced by a select few, and Amu was not one of them, seeing that she has a lot of neglected homework to do. Regret was the only thing she would know on Sunday because she did not take the initiative to complete it sooner. Instead, she spent her Saturday with the boy of her dream, cleansing an Enigma egg, and spent the rest of that time cleaning up the mess. She still kicks herself every now and then for not character transforming with Su to clean up the mess faster. So she spend her Sunday locked in her room trying to do long division and English. While she was hard at work struggling to answer the questions, her guardian angels spent their time enjoying themselves. Ran was cheering Amu on so that she can finish her work faster, but it only hindered her progress by causing stress marks to form on her forehead. Miki spend her time sketching a hard-at-work Amu. The way she capture the frustration, anger, regret, and perseverance in her drawing was truly remarkable. Su spent her time flying around dusting off any item in Amu's room that had collected dust. She did so while humming to herself a catchy tune, a tune that also integrated into Amu's mind, causing her to hum the same thing at a silent level.

While doing her homework for considerable hours, her phone went off. She reached for it to see who was calling her. The caller ID read Rima.

"Hello Rima." She said.

'Hello Amu, are you doing anything important right now?" She asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well, actually, I am doing some neglected homework right now, but I am almost finished with it." She stated.

"That's good. Hey, can you come to the coffee shop downtown. I have nothing better to do over here, so I though we can spend the rest of the Sunday together." She suggested.

"Wow, that sound great. Okay, I will meet you there in about 30 minutes."

"Okay, I will see you then." A flat line soon sounded as the conversation was over. It sounded nice for her to go see Rima today. She spend her whole morning doing homework, so the least she can do is reward herself by hanging out with a friend. Excited for once in her day, she got out of her Sunday attire and dressed into something more presentable; a T-shirt and shorts won't cut in outside. She put a long-sleeve shirt with a skirt to compliment the shirt along with black tights. After several minutes, she grabbed her satchel with her guardian angels' eggs and walked out the door, ready to enjoy the rest of her Sunday, as it should have been the moment she woke up.

The bell at the door of the coffee shop rang, letting the staff know they have a customer. This certain customer had pink hair and three guardian angels. The people seated at the tables did not pay much attention, but one particular customer did.

"Amu, over here!" Rima shouted, waving her arm up in the air. In Amu's point of view, she saw a small hand barely raised above the person in front of it. Luckily, Rima said something or she would have completely missed her. She made her way to Rima's table and took the seat across from her. Rima wore a long, beautiful, light-blue dress that reached all the way to her knees with open-toed shoes. In Amu's mind, the dress looked too cute on her. Once seated, a waiter came by to get their order, but all they wanted was drinks as they were not going to stay there for long.

"So Rima, what did you have in mind for us, today?" Amu asked with a smile.

"I don't know. I had nothing better to do at home, so I thought maybe you would think of something for us to do. I mean, who wants to waste such a beautiful day indoors watching T.V.?" She replied. Amu has thought about staying indoors all day, but she was not going to answer Rima's question.

"I don't know either. I told you that I was doing homework. I planned my entire Sunday around it, but seeing that it's done, I have no idea what to do. What about you, guys? Is there anything you all want to do?" All the guardians blurted out the first thing that came to their heads.

"The mall!"

"The art museum!"

"A pet store, desu!"

"A gag store!"

"Wow, those are all very different places, but I don't think we could visit them all in one day, so how about you all agree on one. How does that sound?" At this point, all of guardian angels huddled together as quickly as a football team calling a play. Amu and Rima could feel the seriousness as they huddled together to decide on the ultimate fate of how to spend this Sunday.

"What should we do today?" Miki led off.

"The mall! The mall!" Ran cheered.

"A pet store. I want to play with the puppies, desu."

"A gag store. I want to find new way to make Rima laugh." Kusukusu repeated.

"Guys, we have to compromise. That is the whole reason why we are like this. Somebody bring something new to the table, or we are not going to do anything." Miki explained. They all remained huddled together like that for several seconds, all of them deep in thought about what to do instead of their first choice. It looked like they were getting nowhere until Su disrupted their intense thought process.

"How about the park?"

"The park!" they yelled in unison as they all reached the same epiphanies, to which they broke their huddle.

"We have decided to go to the park." Miki reported acting as the representative for the guardian angels.

"Alright, to the park it is." Announced Amu. With that settled, they waited until Amu and Rima finished their drinks. Amu got herself a cool glass of lemonade while Rima ordered a nice, sweet cranberry juice. They leisurely took their time to drink their beverages, talking with one another about the recent trends in school and current events that took place. Once finished, they each paid for their drinks at the counter and headed out the door. On the way there, they continued their conversation, having a few laughs and a few thought-provoking moments.

"I never thought about it like that before." Commented Amu.

"Yeah, me neither. But I have to say, it would be interesting if something like that occurred. Which reminds me, did you finish that task I asked you do to on Friday?"

"What task… oh! That task. Yeah, I meant to get to it after school, but I couldn't because Miki lost her sketchbook, and we all went to look for it." She apologetically explained scratching the back of her head, but as she recounted those events, she remembered one particular event.

"Oh, that reminds me. When you were looking for Miki's sketchpad, did you run into anybody while out there?" Amu inquired.

"No, I didn't. Did you?"

"Well, after we found Miki's sketchpad, Su noticed somebody in the shrubbery and went to investigate it, and I followed her, and I saw a person kneeled down in the spot where we fought the X-egg." Amu explained.

"What was he doing?" Rima questioned.

"I think he may have been curious as to what caused all the leaves to die, but I am not too sure. In fact, the weirdest part of it all was that after he left and we were walking home, Ran told me that he looked at her." Amu responded. Rima's eyes widen as she was intrigued by the news she is hearing. She looked over at Ran who was floating right beside Amu's headed. Ran looked at Rima and gave a nod to confirm Amu's statement about the person.

"The weirdest part of it all was his wardrobe. He wore a black sash with a white hakama and a white coat with two long coat tails trailing behind. He also was wearing half a helmet on his left side of his head."

"Half a helmet? Why was he wearing such odd clothing?" Rima repeated.

"My guess is that he might have been some sort of cosplayer because I have never seen those types of clothing being worn around here. He also had very pale skin with green lines running down his eyes, but the most frightening features about his was his expression he made." Her tone about this mystery character changed; Rima was able to pick up on her sudden change of tone about this person. "The frown he was making made me want to look away because it looked like he giving you a stare of death. Just looking at him made me feel… how do I put this… disturbed." Amu tried her best to find the right word to describe what she felt. Last time, she thought of uneasy, but now that she had time to think about it, uneasy was not the right word to describe the sensation she got from him. In fact, disturbed was also not the right word, but that is the only thing that came close to accurately describe what she felt. Rima took in what she was saying. The way she described this person was in no doubt unsettling. Just by the words she used to describe sent a shiver up Rima's spine. She contemplated more about the wardrobe this person wore. A man with markings on his face with super pale skin wearing a white coat with two long coat tails, a white hakama with a black sash around his waist. The combination of all those just did not mix well inside of Rima's mind.

"If what you say is true, then why would someone like him come to the forest behind the school? If he was a cosplayer, then do you think that there is some sort of event in town?" Rima asked Amu.

"I don't know. I don't usually look up those kinds of things. Besides, I felt that I should at least tell someone because that is something you don't see every day." Amu expressed while shrugging her shoulders.

"I can agree with you there. So, basically it is something that we shouldn't worry about." Rima implied as to what Amu was getting at.

"I guess so, but I feel like it is something that I shouldn't disregard completely. If Ran said he looked at her, and if I run into him again, then I am going to talk to him, no matter how uncomfortable it is." Amu explained with her eyes filled with some hesitation like she does not really want to, but she has to for some reasons unknown to Rima. Before anything else could be expressed, the sound of an overjoyed Kusukusu erupted from their conversation.

"We here!" She shouted with joy. Both Amu and Rima gazed upon the park and its entrance. The green fields with lushes trees and bushes filled the park, which was complemented more with the entrance looking like an entrance to a castle. They can see the people happily enjoying themselves. A family of 5 having a nice picnic with one another. A couple of boys throwing a Frisbee, and a man walking a dog with one arm wrapped around his girlfriend's waist while she lays her head on his shoulders. The sight of all of it brought out the smiles and livening up the group. Ran, Kusukusu, Su, and Miki all jolted out to explore the park. Amu and Rima took a breath of relief and followed suit to wherever their guardians would go.

* * *

Ulquiorra did not know what to do with the day. The director told him that there are no new assignment for him, so he can have the day off. He usually did have a lot of spare time when he was in Las Noches. He would usually just pass the time by reading a book of sorts and drink some tea, but seeing that he was trapped in the alternate human realm with no reading material, he did not know what to do. His first thought was to just pass the time and wait for the next day to start, but just waiting around with no purpose did not sit well with Ulquiorra; he would rather be doing something than nothing. He could just go and continue his investigation on Hinamori Amu, but the director gave him the day off, and he intends to follow the orders of those who are in charge. So with no reading material and no task, Ulquiorra ended up resorting to something that he never thought he would do because it seemed something humans would do… he decided to go out. Normally, he wouldn't do something like this because that is something people with lot of time would do, waste it. He was somebody who had lot of time for today. But the thing that he found himself feeling even though he thought he could never feel it was a sense of boredom. How is he bored? Boredom is something humans felt, and he was not human, so why does he have a sensation of boredom. Back in Las Noches, he never felt bored, even when he was not doing anything special, so why now? The more he thought about it, the more he felt he was not finding a logical explanation for this phenomena. It was this point that he found himself looking the palm of his right hand. Looking at his palm was nothing special, but he felt that there was something there. A focus more on his palm, but it was futile. Maybe it was due to his long exposure to people around him. It was then that the words of Ichigo echoed throughout his mind.

 _How is it that I was able to read your moves? Was it that I have become more hollow-like? Well, actually, I think it is because you have become more human…_

When Ichigo uttered those words to get under his skin, he slammed his sword on the ground, breaking the floor beneath him and sending two chucks of the floor into the air. Just thinking about that sentence was enough for him punch the wall, making an indent into it. He remembers the surge of anger he felt when Ichigo taunted him with that saying. He remembers himself stepping up his attacks in response to his sentence. The one thing that he truly loathed was that right now, Ichigo's words might hold some truth. Right now, he has some sense of boredom he is experiencing, and he did not like that. He took a second look at the newly-formed dent in the wall and realized that he would have punched any harder, then there would be hole in the wall, allowing his neighbors to see into his apartment. He took a deep breath to help relieve himself of that anger. He grabbed his keys, and headed out the door. If he was going to feel board, then he might as well try to relinquish it by going into town.

It was a Sunday afternoon, and the fourth Espada found himself walking around town. He can sense the people's eyes looking at him in surprise as he walked through the streets. He has been here for a few day, and he is already grown accustom to people staring at him, but it was not like it bothered him. He did not care what humans thought of him. They're weaklings, and they were beneath him, and as long as they kept their distance and left him alone, there would be no problems. There were some that snickered and laugh very quietly as he passed. He knew this thanks to his enhanced hearing ability, but like before, he did not care.

Two hours of walking, and it finally lead him somewhere… a park. He has not been to a park before, so he thought he could venture into one to see what they are like. He walked through the gate, and continued his way deeper into the park. The first thing he noticed were the people. Laughter and joy drenched their faces as they were with their friends and family. He saw a couple of people playing with one another and others taking a nap under the trees. It was quite humid and warm, so he can understand why someone would sleep under these conditions. The sleeping people made him think of himself, seeing that the thing they shared something in common… the amount of free time. But unlike them, he would never waste such time on a remedial task as sleeping through the day. Those kind of actions was something more of what Coyote Stark, Espada number one, would do. He was the most powerful Espada of them all, and he would deliberately waste large amounts of time sleeping in his quarters. As somebody who was much stronger than him, he did not like that idea of someone stronger than him being so lazy. Remembering back to the park, he realized that people create such areas so other could enjoy it. Just like the planetarium, people again were wasting such a resource for simplistic concepts as leisure and enjoyment. The thought about this place did not sit well with him. Just as he was about to leave this place, faint traces of a dark energy eroded into the area. It was fairly easy to distinguish such energy coming from an X-egg, and judging on the intensity of such energy, it was close by. Pinpointing the exact location, and making sure nobody was watching him, he used his sonido to quickly get himself to where the egg was. In an instant, Ulquiorra found himself in an area heavy with trees and bushes. Using his senses, he looked up and was greeted with the sight of eight X-eggs floating several meters above him. He stared at them until the eggs took notice of him. These eggs were nothing more than complete garbage, and letting them run lose would not be such a problem for him. However, there was a reason why Easter had a janitor like Ikuto, and it looks like he was going to perform such duties. The X-eggs closely watched the pale stranger as he pulled out one hand from his pocket, having his arm parallel to t to the ground. His hand then began producing red static that enveloped his entire hand. The end for the X-eggs were near for them. However, they managed to be in the right place at the right time for a voice soon disrupted Ulquiorra's concentration.

"Over here, Kusukusu said they went over here." The voice shouted. He did not recognize the voice at first, but then the next sentence clarified everything.

"Amu-chan, the X-eggs they are over here. We have to go there now." The second voice repeating what the fist voice shouted.

It was Hinamori Amu and her allies.

Ulquiorra was not expecting such a development. To think that in the entire city, they both would be in the same area at the same time without him actively tracking her. Once could say that it was just mere coincidence, but to Ulquiorra, there was no coincidence. Such foolish logic would be antagonistic to his logic-driven mind. But right now, his major concern is the approaching guardians, more specifically, the guardian angels. If they get too close to his proximity, then they would be able to pick up on his spiritual pressure, and he wants to keep his identity hidden for just a little longer, until at least he has gathered adequate information on Hinamori Amu and some basic information on her friend. So until he finds a time he finds most appropriate, he must strategically retreat for now and acquire some considerable distance away from the guardians so he can at least be a bystander without them noticing him.

"Let's see what you can do, Hinamori Amu." Ulquiorra set under his breath before disappearing in an instant.

* * *

Amu and Rima raced across the park. They were actively enjoying their day, watching their guardian angels play with each other, having the time of their lives. Amu and Rima both sat under a tree, continuing their conversation they had when they were in the café. Ran and the others were enjoying a good old game of tag. Right now, Su was it, but she was not doing a great job at it. Since Ran was the athletic type, tagging her would be impossible for Su, seeing that she can run around, or fly around, in circles around her. Miki and Kusukusu were able to keep their distance from Su. There were times where they almost got tagged, but with their quick maneuverability, they successfully evaded Su. Su was starting to become very tired from chasing them around. She stopped for a while to catch her breath; flying around at her speed will tire somebody out. Once she regain her stamina, she spotted something she could not pass up. She saw Ran just floating in place with her back turned at her. With hope filing in her eyes, she made her way towards her. Rapidly closing the distance, she kept her pace up, all the while Ran not noticing. It was too good to be true. Was Su actually going to tag Ran, the guardian angel of athletics? She kept it up, her excitement building up until she realized that it was too good to be true. Several centimeters away from Ran, her entire body reacted to a sensation.

"Su, do you feel that?" Ran questioned.

"Yes, I do, desu. This is bad!" Su replied with a bit of fear in her response. She knew the familiar sensation all too well, for she and the others have dealt with these before. Amu noticed her guardian floating in place, not having any fun. She called out to them to make sure everything was alright.

"Hey, are you guys alright?" Amu inquired with worry.

"Amu-chan! I sense multiple X-eggs nearby. We have to do something." Amu and Rima state changed from relax to trouble. Amu and Rima looked at each other. Both seeing the determination in one another to find and stop the X-eggs. They both gave each other a nod, to which Amu yelled to Ran.

"Ran, where are the X-eggs are. Show us where they are." Amu yelled.

"They are not far. Quick, follow me!" Ran ordered.

As they follow Ran and the other guardian angels, they end up taking them to the small section of the park where there is a considerable amounts of tree and bushes. Looking around, there was not a lot of people around, so that gave them a little relief that no bystanders would end up being injured when the encounter ensues. Plus, they wouldn't have to worry about people staring at two children in weird clothing fighting something invisible to regular people. Anyways, they proceeded into the area, keeping an open eye for the X-eggs.

"Ran, where are the X-eggs?" She asked.

"They are just right ahead." She responded.

They fought their way thought the thick shrubbery, and sure enough, they reached their destination. In an open area, floating three meters in the air, a cluster of eight X-eggs were flying around haphazardly. The X-eggs were all looking around frantically until they laid sight on the approaching girls. They all jumped upon the sight of them, and not taking any chances with the new interlopers, they all in unison screeched and all sent fourth a gust of purple energy, causing the guardian angels and the guardians to shield themselves from the oncoming attack. Ran and Miki could not withstand the gust and ended up being blasted into a bush. Su and Kusukusu fell to the same fate, but instead were blown back towards Amu and Rima's direction. Safely landing in each of their respective bearers. Once the attacked stopped. Amu and Rima regained their stances, gazing upon the X-eggs frantically moving around.

"Amu-chan, we have to do something. The X-eggs seem frightened."

"What are you talking about, Su."

"The X- eggs, they seem frightened for some reason. Like they have seen something scary. Quick Amu-chan, Character Transform with me." Su explained. Amu nodded to her request.

"Rima, we should join them to." Kusukusu advocated.

"Yes, lets." Amu humpty lock began to glow with a very bright radiance as she was going to unlock one of her true self.

"My heart, Unlock!" Amu and Rima projected towards the X-eggs. Both were enveloped in the radiance that grew very bright, possibly attracting unnecessary attention around them. Both Guardian angels were sealed back up into their egg shells as both came close to their bearer's chest, and both phased through their chest, becoming one with their bearers. The clothes Amu and Rima wore glowed as they dispersed into fragments of light only for more light to cover them. For Amu, the light created a green, balloon-shape maid's outfit that appeared on her with a frilly apron also appearing on top of the maid's outfit with bows appearing from on top of her head to two wrapped around her ankles. Two gloves covered her hands, and her hair style changed to having two pony-tails, one on each side of her head. As for Rima, her outfit was drastically different compared to the Amu's maid outfit. A big red bow placed itself on top of her head as her outfit consisted of a pink dress and a red collar. Her legs were covered with long white tights with wacky red shoes on her feet.

"Character Transformation, Amulet Clover."

"Character Transformation, Clown Drop."

Both newly-transformed Amu and Rima Stood in front of the X-eggs as they witness them take on their new forms. Not being intimidated by their new forms, they once again combined their power and release of gust of dark energy at them, only this time it not being successful because both targets evaded the attack by jumping out of the way. Both of them land safety, but now they separated from each other. The X-eggs looked at one another, and all nodded in unison assuming that an egg tipping forward is the equivalent of nodding, and all eight separated into two equal groups to take on their opponents.

Rima watched as the X-eggs surround her and going around in circles over her head. She waited to see what the eggs were planning to do. They continued to encircle her, until one of them broke formation and launched its entire body at her. With ample timing, she stepped to the right, nearly dodging the oncoming X-eggs. But they did not let up as a second one soon took the first's place, and launched itself at her, but his time, successfully hitting Rima in the abdomen. With such a small body, it pushed her back several almost a full meter, letting out a gasp as the pain soon took ahold of her. Amu saw the horrid sight of her friend being attacked, and instantly the sounds of her friend crying out in pain reaching her eardrums. She wish she could help her, but she is a little wrapped up at the moment as the other group of X-eggs were shooting themselves at her. She ducked, she dodged, she side-stepped thought all of them. But she can't do that forever, and without rest, it was only a matter of time. She needs a moment so that she can fight back, but the eggs wouldn't lighten up their onslaught. It seems that timing in this battle was key to her victory, and she did not have a lot of it if she spend all of it just dodging.

Going back to Rima, her abdomen was just hit by an X-egg with considerable force. She felt like collapsing on the ground so the pain would not continue, but that was not an option. No, she will endure it. Looking to see how Amu was doing, she was not fairing to well. The X-eggs were aggressive as they did not give her a chance to retaliate. She had to think of something fast, or something worse may happen, but right not, there were the four X-eggs hovering over her, rotating in a circle. With them around, she will not be able to help Amu, and without the others, things did not look well for the Joker and the Queen.

"Rima, we have to do something, or Amu will not be able to purify the X-eggs." Kusukusu advised.

"I know, but I can't do anything right now until we deal with these X-eggs, and smashing them is not an option." Rima replied with frustration in her voice. She had to do something and fast. With no other options, there was only one thing to do, and she was not going to like it. She raised her hand swiped it across her, yelling,

"Tightrope Dancer!" Four snake-like ropes came out of her dress, and all of them began to hone in on the X-eggs surrounding Amu. Amu noticed what Rima was doing as the X-eggs on her took sight of the oncoming ropes and tried their best to evade them. However, there was a big flaw with her plan because that left her completely susceptible to attacks, and there were still four X-eggs encircling her. The X-eggs took this unbelievable chance, and all at once charged at her. Rima could not evade all four, so that only left her one option. She looked over at Amu and saw her the melancholic expression she adopted as she realized what she was doing.

"I'm leaving it to you!" She stated. Four X-egg soon crashed into her, hitting her back, front and two sides. She let out a squeal of pain as her tiny body could not endure the force. Pain shot out from all four impact zone, and before long, she dropped down to one knee. Amu could not bear to see what was happening, but she did not have time to mourn for she cannot let the opportunity her friend gave her go to waste. With the X-eggs finally off of her, she jumped back several meters so that she was in front of everyone. She raised her hand and a whisk appeared in it.. She grabbed ahold of it.

 _Thank you Rima for this chance, and I will not let it go to waste._

"Remake Honey!" She dropped the whisk down with all of her force, and sent out a tidal wave of her magical honey. The X-eggs did not know what to do about the oncoming tidal wave. They tried to flee by trying to fly over it, but with them giving their full when attacking Amu and Rima has caused them to use copious amounts of energy, meaning that they were at the mercy of the tidal wave. They all huddled together as they thought that it would be the end of them, and in a way, it was their end. Soon, the honey engulf them, along with the kneeling Rima who has succumbed to the pain. The X-eggs struggled, but soon they realized that what has engulfed them was not painful. In fact, it was the opposite. They all felt their worries and fear melt away as the honey worked it magic. One by one, the X's were etched out of the eggs, and the black soon turned into white, rebirthing them once again to purified heart eggs. All the while, Rima felt the honey's healing effects as the pain she had to endure soon melted away until she can no longer feel it. With the pain subdued, she picked herself up and stood, watching the X-eggs being purified by the honey. Being in the honey gave her a very warm feeling, like those times before her parents started arguing with one another. But all good things had to end as the honey soon dissipated away until it was only Rima and the eight purified heart's eggs. The eggs soon all took off, returning to their rightful bearers. Both Rima and Amu broke their transformations, and soon after the break, Amu rushed over to Rima.

"Are you okay?" Amu asked, expressing her concern

"I'm fine. I was in a lot of pain, but after being enveloped by your Remake Honey, I don't feel the pain anymore." She expressed. Amu gave a sigh of relief. She then changed her tone from a worried tone to a stern one.

"Please don't do something like that again. That was way too dangerous. Do you know what could have happened if I did not use my Remake honey?" She explained.

"Yes, I am aware, but I knew you would be able to pull it off." Rima replied.

"Promise me you won't do something crazy like that again."

"I promise. Sorry I made you worry." Rima apologized with her tone filled with remorse. Amu could not help but smile back at her seeing that she did what she did for her. She extended her hand and placed it on her shoulder. Both of them smiled at each other, feeling that their friendship has just gotten a little bit deeper after the turn of events. Ran and Miki soon arose from the bushes, scratching their head before Miki asked.

"Did we miss anything?"

* * *

The door slowly opened, letting in the moonlight into the empty apartment. Without further hesitation, Ulquiorra entered his apartment. He did not bother to turn on the lights since he can perfectly see well where everything was, and by everything, he means the walls and the dent he made earlier in the day. He completely bypassed the kitchen/living room and headed straight for his room. Once in there, he stood over his futon, endeavoring to contemplate everything that has occurred today. Due to his circumstances for today, he has finally seen all three of Hinamori Amu's character transformations, and as a bonus, he saw her friend's Transformation also, though he did not really care about it seeing that he had no invested interest in Rima. With all three transformations witnessed by his own eyes, he has all the information needed to proceed with the next plan. The director has given Ulquiorra time so that he can learn more about the current situation, and now he was finished analyzing his target. With phase one complete, he can now proceed to phase two. The director explained that tomorrow will be a big day because they are putting their plan into action, and the director will be giving him an assignment. The details of that will have to wait until tomorrow, but all he knows is that the Guardians will try to stop them, and he needs to be there so that they don't succeed.

 _Hinamori Amu… you will come to understand my power in the near future, and when you do, you will not have the courage to oppose Easter anymore. But first, there some things I need you to understand…_

* * *

Amu fell onto her bed, stretching out all the muscles in her arms and legs. Today was quite hepatic for her. First, she had homework to complete, then she went out with Rima, then they had to purify eight X-eggs. Needless to say, her day was exhausting, and it did not help that tomorrow was Monday, and she had to go to school. She brought up her phone in front of her to check it. The phone showed a list of contacts, and Rima's number is highlighted. Seeing that she got injured, she wanted to call to make sure she was alright, but she remembers Rima telling her that there was nothing to worry about, and that she was fine thanks to her Remake Honey. Remembering that caused her to put her phone aside, and instead talk with her guardian angels to see how they were doing.

"So how are you guys feeling tonight?" She asked

"Ahhhh! I feel energetic. I want to go on a run." Ran announces.

"I feel exhausted. After a good night's rest, I should be back to normal." Miki replies

All who was left to reply was Su, but she did not say anything. In fact, the expression on her face was cause enough for Amu and the other guardians to inquire what the matter with her was.

"Hey Su, are you alright." Amu asks.

"Well… since you asked. I have been worried about those X-eggs we purified, desu." Su explained.

"What are you talking about? We purified them, so I don't see the problem." Amu exclaimed.

"I know that we purified them, but the way they acted was different. They seemed scared, scared of something, or someone. The way they moved and attacked almost seemed like they were trying to defend themselves, desu. Didn't you notice it too?"

"Now that I think about it, they did seem more aggressive than usual. It seemed like they were fighting like their lives depended on it. The way they attacked seemed to be out of desperation." Amu concluded.

"I thought so too. I feel like there is someone out there that deliberately scared them." Su revealed to Amu. The first thought that came to Amu was Easter. Surely an adversary like that would do anything in order to accomplish their goals, but she did not see any evidence of their influence when they were in the park. She thought about any possible culprit for such a claim, but the only one that came to her mind was Ikuto. Ikuto would never do something like destroying X-eggs. He knows how important a heart's egg is to a child, so she does not think he would be capable of doing such an action. The only reason why he destroyed an X-egg during that concert was so that she would stay away from him. So many questions and so little answers.

"Su, I see what you are saying, but I don't have any answers right now. How about we talk about it later because we all had an exhausting day, and I think we all earned a little shut eye." Amu suggested. Su can only slightly smile upon the request Amu asked. Amu flipped the lights, and quickly hopped into bed. Ran, Miki, and Su floated to their respective eggs as the tops of their egg shell closed them in, leaving Amu staring at the ceiling.

 _What could Easter be planning? I know that there have been an increase in X-eggs and Enigma eggs, but why would they try to destroy X-eggs. They have been using them in order to create things to use against us. Maybe I should bring it up with the Guardians tomorrow to see what they think._

* * *

Kazuomi Hoshina sitting in his office, filing out some much-needed paper work that needed to be completed. His office was completely silent, as one could hear the current flowing through the desk lamp on his table. The moonlight helped shed some light into his office as he used along with the lamp to see what he was writing. All was quiet until the phone located on the upper-left corner of his desk began to ring. With letting the second ring to go off, he answered the phone and put it on his left ear.

"This his Director Hoshina, how may I serve you?" he stated with little sincerity in his voice.

"…"

"Gonzo! How may I serve you tonight?" He quickly rephrased with more sincerity in his voice.

"…"

"Yes, everything is going according to plan. I ask that you be patient a little longer. I can assure you that I will acquire the Embryo for you. In fact, you should know that I hired extra help to assist us in our search."

"…"

"I can assure you that the new employee shows such promise. I have explained that he is… different compared to everyone else."

"…"

"Yes, I will try to find out more information on our new employee."

"…"

"What?! Are you sure about that?

"…"

"Very well, if that is what you wish, then I will arrange it for you."

"…"

"Yes. I will do what you ask."

A flat line soon rang into the Director's ear. He placed the phone back, and got up from his seat, and proceeded towards the window, staring at the glowing lights of the city.

"Ulquiorra, it seems that you are more popular as I anticipated. You will soon have the honor that only I and my puppet of a step-son will have."


	7. Ch 7 Prepartations

**Ch. 7 Preparations**

Something felt off to Amu. She feels as if she is not in her own room right now. It was almost like she was floating around in space. She moved her legs around and noticed that something was missing. Her entire bed was gone, or rather, she was not in bed. She moved around to feel her surroundings, and realized she did not feel anything. But the strangest thing about this entire situation was that it all seemed familiar to her, almost like she has been here before. Then a gentle, familiar voiced called out her in an echo.

"Amu-chan." It called out to her.

Instead of feeling her surroundings and letting touch paint her surroundings, she sluggishly opened her sleep-ridden eyes. It was just as she thought. Instead of seeing her room where everything was supposed to be, what greeted her eyes was a world filled with stars as far as the eye can see. They all seemed to be orbiting around something since they all seem to go in a circular path. Amu looked around realized the stars were orbiting around her.

"Amu-chan." The same voice called out to her. Judging from the sound, the voiced seemed to originate from behind her, so she turned around and found a guardian angel. This one had a yellow theme going on. Amu also noticed her diamond hair pinned and immediately recognized who this guardian angel was.

"Dia!" Amu called to her flabbergasted. She hasn't seen Dia in a while, not since when she first saw the Embryo. Memories of that day began to resurface. She remembered how she leapt off the roof of her school to grab it. She also remembers Ikuto coming toward her as he was also endeavoring to grab the Embryo. As the two got closer, Amu pondered about her dreams. What did she want? What was her wish? Her thoughts then shifted to Ikuto. She didn't know much about him, but she still thought about him.

 _What is Ikuto's wish…_

"Amu-chan." Dia's voice spoke up again, braking Amu's train of thought. Her memories of that day soon faded as her attention was now focused on her fourth guardian angel.

"Amu-chan, are you prepared for what is coming?" Dia stated. Amu was thrown off by her statement. She hasn't seen her for quite some time, and now when they meet once more, Dia warns her about the things that will come to past.

"What do you mean by that, Dia?" Amu questioned her fourth guardian angel, but she did not reply. She stood there for a few seconds before she spoke up again.

"What will come is nothing that you ever faced, but you must not forget to press forward with unwavering confidence. No matter how deep you are in the abyss, no matter how hopeless it may seem, never give in." She stated before a single heart egg appeared in between the both of them. It remained there for a few seconds before black marks appeared in multiple areas of the shell, engulfing the pure-white shininess in a blackness, and ultimately shattering before Amu's eyes.

The moment the egg shattered, she felt a hard force concentrated at her head. This force was enough to pull Amu out of her dream-like state and back into her own reality. Her eyes shot opened, and they were greeted by her brown flooring in her room. _It was a dream,_ she thought to herself, but she can hardly accept that her dream was a dream. The last time she had this "dream," her and the Guardians were greeted by the Embryo. Whatever that "dream" was, she knows that something important is going to happen. The first thing she must do is get off the floor because all the blood that is rushing towards her head is starting to make Amu feel nauseas. Readjusting her hands so that her palms were smack down on the floor, she started to pull her body so she can have her other half of her body on the floor. Once finished, she reoriented herself so that she was sitting in the kris-cross position with her hand located on her knees. She looked over to her desk to find her pink bag where Ran, Miki, and Su were sleeping. Her body falling on the floor and readjusting seemed to not have awoken her guardian angels. However, her gaze was more oriented towards the unhatched fourth guardian angel, Dia. She has not been out of her egg since she and Utah worked together to take down a giant X-character; she has remained dormant in her egg ever since. The only forms of communication between Dia and Amu was during in one of those dream-like states she was in. She stood up from her position and walked over to her guardian angel's eggs, and picked up Dia's egg. She took notes of the warmth coming from Dia's egg along with the smooth texture of her egg. There is no doubt that Dia is sleeping, and she is doing well, which means that Amu's state of mind must be fine. She looked deeply at it, trying to unravel the advice she gave to her in her "dream" before Amu had a rude awakening. Though the egg was warm, the expression Amu made could not be described as warm for there was a small sadness that seemed to come from out of nowhere.

 _What is with this sadness? Why am I feeling such a thing right now? Could it be from what Dia has told me, or it is from something that I am not aware of?_

Whatever Dia was implying with the change, it didn't sound good. Could the Embryo make another appearance like last time, and will Easter make a move, or was there something more sinister in store for her and the Guardians? She thought about the last couple of days, trying to remember anything that was out of the ordinary. Other than the eggs she purified, nothing came to mind. _The only thing that was left was_ …. her eyes widen a little bit as the realization came to her. She placed Dia's egg back in its original place and made her way toward her balcony. She stepped outside and let the cold breeze of the morning brush against her skin, causing goosebumps to form around her legs and arms. She looked out towards the horizon of homes and trees, shaking her head.

 _This is not the same kind of coldness I felt on Thursday._

If Dia was talking about what she thinks she is talking about, then that could mean only trouble. With the morning brisk teeming around her body, she let herself back into her room to get ready for school. Dressing out of her pajamas and into her school uniform, she walked over to her guardian angels, still sleeping in their eggs.

"Hey, wake up you guys, or else I'm leaving all of you behind." Amu stated bluntly while brushing her hair. The sudden decibel outburst was enough to disturb all three guardian's sleep. Each one took their time as they all sluggishly replaced themselves from comfortability to standing.

"Amu-chan, that's not nice." Ran responded while experiencing a powerful yawn.

"I can't be late for school, and I am not about to start being late because you took your sweet time getting out of bed." Amu replied, defusing the Still-sleepy Ran as she hesitantly begins to rise up from her standing position. Next followed Miki, who was more tired than Ran, but she fought the urge to stay in her egg and eventually floated into the air. Su, on the other hand, was still half asleep as she rose with her eyes still closed as the sunlight was too blinding to her sensitive eyes. Eventually, all of them were able to relinquish any sleep that still lingered and prepared themselves for school—they don't have a lot to do, so they are basically ready.

Once Amu changed into her school uniform, she turned towards her door and left the room in order to eat breakfast. As she walked down stairs, the smell of a good breakfast smacked her nostrils hard, causing her Stomach to growl ferociously for the much-anticipated food. The only thing that she didn't expect was her little sister, Ami, running up to her and wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Good morning, big sister." She exclaimed with much felicity in her voice.

"Good morning, Ami-chan." She responded with a smile. "Where is Dad? He is usually taking pictures of you right about now." She asked for she was expecting her dad do be doing that, so she was genuinely surprised her dad was not here. Instead of her sister answering, another voice answered her question.

"Your father had some business to take care of, so he left early." Her Mom explained while pouring a glass of orange juice.

"Oh. I see." She said as she made her way to the table in order to enjoy her breakfast. She took her seat at one at upper left corner of the table while Ami sat right next to her, and her mother sitting across from her. The Hinamori's enjoyed a quiet diner, something quite rare for Amu seeing that it was always her father and mother cheering on Ami as she would take poses while her father took pictures. The only thing that was producing any noise was the television. With nothing better to do, and nothing on the television that could be considered decent, Amu decided to strike up a conversation with her mom.

"So Mom, do you have anything planned today?" she asked.

"Not really. All I have to do today is review the new issue of Housewives' Knowledge, which could take some time." Her mom informed her.

"Oh, I see…" Before Amu can further continue her conversation with her Mom, the television interrupted their conversation. Whether it was sheer coincidence or dumb luck, the person on the T.V that interrupted Amu's conversation was none other than Nobuko Saeki, the spiritual fortune teller. Amu did not notice that her mother was watching her on the television for she usually eats and leaves. The host sitting righting next to her than cut in on whatever the spiritualist was mumbling on about.

"Alright, now that we have the audience's and the viewers at home's attention, why don't you tell everyone something intriguing like a fortune?" She stated keeping her eyes on the camera. The audience that was attending all began to cheer as they all wanted Nobuko to give them all one of her famous fortunes. Nobuko, in response, raised her right hand up, signaling the audience to quiet down. Not long after this, Nobuko got what she wanted for the audience fell deadly silent in a matter of seconds. It also seems her influence was strong for the Hinamori's also quieted down for Nobuko. Amu quieted down because her family was intently listening. Nobuko fell quite, almost as if her enthusiasm was drained instantly from her. The host notice the sudden change of mood. She was not sure what to do.

"If you all want intriguing, then I will tell you something intriguing!" Nobuko exploded from her seat with great enthusiasm. The host quickly fell back to her seat, not expecting to go from quiet to loud.

"Everybody listen up, get comfortable in your seats for my fortune to all who are listening will be accompanied by a recent experience of mine." She commanded as she fiercely pointed at her audience and at the cameras. Ooohhhs and ahhhs was all that the audience could say as it is quite rare for the great Nobuko to first tell a story before a fortune, so with the story, it must be of vital importance. Normally, Amu would disregard anything she says because she once thought of her as a fake, but when she learn that she can see her guardian angels and was able to track down her guardian angels when they were kidnapped, Amu learned Nobuko is no fake, and there is something to her and her fortunes. Amu, along with Ami and her mom, all tuned in on what Nobuko had to say.

"Before I unfold the details of my experience, it would be with most regrettable if I do not warn the audience about my story for it is not for the faint of heart. With that being said, listen with discretion for you all have been warned." Nobuko advised her listeners in a most-serious tone while holding her finger; however, before she can begin her story, the program shifted into a commercial break. Ami immediately wrapped around her older sister's legs for she absolutely loathes scary stories.

"Big sister, I'm scared!" She cried out. Amu watched as her sister wrapped around her waist, hugging her very tighter than before. Being the older sister, and the person she looks up to, Amu placed one hand on her head and began to rub her hair. Ami looked up with tears in her eyes and was greeted with a heart-warming smile from her beloved sister.

"It's okay, Ami. I am right here, so there is no need for you to be scared. Mom and I will be here to comfort you if you get scared." Amu reassured her younger sister. Ami looked over to where her mom was, and she also wore a comforting smile. Ami looked back to Amu while wiping away her tears.

"Okay!" she said. "If Big Sister is here, then I won't be scared." With that declaration, Ami returned her sight back on the television. Ran, Miki, and Su were touched by this side of Amu. The one where she shows her gentle, kind side. It is quite a rare sight to see Amu like that for she usually puts up.

"oohhhh! Amu-chan looked so cute, didn't she?" Ran exclaimed out loud

"Eh?"

"Yes, for it is quite rare to see that side of Amu. You should show this side more to Tadase if I were you" Miki added in while scratching her chin like she was some sort of scientist that has witnessed something remarkable.

"Amu-chan, you should be more like that." Su suggested to Amu in a felicitous voice. Amu completely forgot that they were here as she let her sisterly instincts take over to comfort Ami. There was little time for Amu to salvage the situation, so there was only one thing to do at a time like this.

"I-idiots. What I did was nothing special. I was just doing what big sisters are supposed to do." She stated quite defiantly to her Shugo Charas.

"Oh, there is Amu's outer character." Ran pointed out.

"Cool and Spicy." Su chanted. Amu would have done something until…

"Amu-chan, who are you talking to?"

 _Crap! I forgot Mom was in the room._ She thought to herself. There is no way for her to see Ran, Miki, or Su, so to people like them, it looks like she is talking to herself. She had to think of something fast, but whatever fast was to her, it was too late for Ami opened her mouth first.

"She was talking to…" Was all she got to say before Amu wrapped on hand around her mouth so she couldn't finish her sentence.

"Takahata! It is for a small play the guardian are holding. I was just rehearsing my lines in my head, and I guess I said one of those lines out loud. He, he, he." This was the best she can think of. It was now time to see if her mom would buy it. The expression she made was what she expected: confused with a hint of disbelief. The half-smile she was giving was enough to show it all. It looks as if she was not convince, until.

"…okay…" She awkwardly accepted. Amu can tell that she still had some doubt, but she can tell that her mother did not want to dig into her business. Right after that fiasco, Everyone's attention turned towards the television for the commercials were over, and the program was back on.

"Hello and welcome back. If you are joining us right now, then the famous Nobuko Saeki is about to share one of her most-recent experiences. Nobuko-sensei, tell us, what happened to you? The audience and viewers are dying to know." The host announces. Nobuko fell silent before she began to unravel her story.

"Just like there are guardian angels that watch over you, there are also those that want to cause harm to you." Right off the back, Amu can tell that she was referring to the X-eggs. She continued her story.

"It was a Thursday night, and I was in the middle of one of the best sleep I have ever had. The blankets over me along with my comfortable mattress was all so… relaxing. I never wake up in the middle of the night for I am just too comfortable. However, on that night, something woke me up. I say something for I had no idea what the presence was at the time. The best description I can give of this sensation was… **melancholy**. Sadness is not enough of a word to accurately describe what I felt. This air of melancholy, for all intensive purposes, tried to suffocate me. I found myself having a hard time breathing, and my entire body just froze in place." She described as she shifted her tone to seriousness. The audience was left speechless too. Angst, anticipation, and fear resided in the audience.

"Remember all those warm blankets I told you about? During that time, a sense of coldness draped over my body that no amounts of blankets can ever warm up. I tried to keep myself warm, but I couldn't for the life of me. Whatever that presence was, it did not want to leave." The audience could not stop listening. Some were at the edge of their seats, dying to find out what happened next—it goes without saying that she managed to get through it, but the people want to know the details. The women in the crowd found this story to be scary for they started to hug their boyfriends or each other to make themselves feel safe. The host of the show was no exception for she had trepidation all over herself. If one was really close to her, the person would be able to see her arms tremble. Her mouth was closed, but that didn't stop her teeth from silently chattering against each other in rapid succession.

"W-what happened next?" The host asked as she stuttered her first word, another indication of her fears. "It vanished." Nobuko uttered. "As mysteriously as it came, it immediately vanished without a single trace. Since then, I haven't felt that presence, but there are times when I have the impression that something is not right. I have a creeping suspicion that this presence has not left the city yet. It is still out there. The purpose for it being here is a mystery, but I am for certain that this presence had come here with mal intent." The audience remained still for what seems like forever. The story they have just heard is, to them, quite frightening.

"As for the fortune, I have a suspecting feeling that I was not the only one to experience such a sensation. I feel that those who have felt it are just as confused and worried as I am. To have felt such a sensation… All I have to say is this: Trials and hardships wait in the shadows for all who have felt the sensation." The audience kept silent as they did not want to break the mood set by Nobuko. However, the mood that was set in the living room was broken as the television flickered off, and the person who had the remote in hand was Amu.

"Amu, why did you turn off the television?" Her mother inquired.

"Ummm… Shouldn't Ami get ready for school? Come to think of it, I really should be going. You should go help Ami get ready for you have that review your magazine." She answered.

"You're right. Come Ami, let's get your ready for school." Amu's Mom rose up from her seat to extend her hand towards Ami, to which she quickly grabbed due to the fact that she was still shaken up by Nobuko's scary story; however, she was not disturbed as much as Amu is for she knew what Nobuko was talking about. Once Midori and Ami left Amu and her guardian angel, the expression on Amu's face change the moment those two left the kitchen.

 _Her fortune…. There is no doubt that she was referring to the sensation, but that is not what I am shaken up about._ What she was more worried about was her fortune. Nobuko may be some cheesy psychic, but Amu cannot deny the fact that she has help her and her friends in the past due to her abilities, and her abilities are predicting a challenging future. The thing about this whole situation was that her fortune sounded very similar to what Dia said to her. It was no coincidence that Dia and Nobuko practically told Amu the same thing. It is clear that they are trying to warn her about something lurking in the shadows, and she has a hunch that it will be revealing itself very soon. With this new revelation unearthed, Amu turned her attention to Ran, Miki, and Su. Judging by the expressions on their faces, they were not in a good mood.

"Ran, Miki, Su, do you think what she said is true?" she asked them. "I mean, the trials and challenges that await?"

Just by looking at the expressions on their faces was an answer for her question. With no sign of a smile anywhere and with the mood in the kitchen being very somber, the answer is very evident to what it was. Miki was the first to voice in.

"I don't know what to think. Nobuko-san does have a talent for these kinds of things, and seeing that she has felt that presence, who is to say that there might be something… or rather… someone who is causing the sensation." Miki then turns toward Ran, who was twiddling her thumbs.

"I don't know what to think, but I do know that something is coming." She states. Everyone then turned their attention to Su, who they can physically see her fear as she hugged herself and tried her best not to shake.

"I'm scared desu. Amu-chan, what are we going to do? If what Nobuko-san says is true, then that means something bad will happen to the other Guardians." Su distressed. All of this was starting to become a little scary now, and Amu has a feeling that all of their worries are with good reason. Not only did that whole fiasco with the sensation rile her and her friends up, but now Dia has communicated with her to give her some sort of warning, and if Nobuko says that some trails is coming towards them, then this should be reason enough to warn the other Guardians about what is going on. At that moment of clarity, a sudden image of Ikuto formed itself in Amu's mind.

 _Why did I just think about Ikuto just now?_

Actually, the real question was how she cannot. Ikuto, along with the rest of the Guardians, has felt that sensation too. And what is Easter's role in all of this. Ikuto warned her about what Easter and their intentions about the sensation. Could it be that Ikuto might have some idea about where that sensation came from? And will he tell her about it, or rather keep quiet. Amu considers Ikuto as a friend. He has helped her in many ways even though he acts like he doesn't care, but with recent event like the rise of X-egg activity along with Enigma eggs, then surely he might let her in on something useful. She got up from her chair for she has to get to school. She has to tell the Guardians everything about her new-found discovery: The presence, the rise in X-eggs, Dia's warning, everything. It could all mean something, and she was not about to leave any stone unturned.

* * *

The doors creaked open as the blue-haired agent of Easter proceeded into the Director's office. Ikuto doesn't really care if he is late to these kinds of things so long as he at least shows up. His step-father has noticed Ikuto's tardiness to these meetings, and he will surely reprimand him in the future, but now was not the best time for such actions for the other operatives of Easter were present in his office. Lulu and Ulquiorra have waited patiently for Ikuto to come to the meeting… at least, from what he can see. Ulquiorra didn't care either way if he was late or not. Personally, he would prefer to handle this mission by himself, but then he would miss the opportunity to witness what Ikuto is capable of. As for his thoughts on Lulu, Ulquiorra has already has an idea about what Lulu is capable of, and would rather have her step aside for missions like this for she would only obstruct him. Sitting on the other side of the room, though Lulu looked calm and collect, on the inside, she did not take Ikuto's lateness with such apathy like the fourth Espada. On the outside, she seemed collect and calm, like someone of her status should be. But on the inside, she was relentless for such tardiness. She wanted to give him an ear full for making her waste her time waiting on him. This tardiness was already adding salt to the wound because she has zero interest for today's operation. If they want to have some big operation, then that is fine with her, but she would prefer to stay out of such things. All that time she was waiting on him could have been better spent on luring the Embryo out by using more of her jewelry.

Closing the door behind him, Ikuto took notice of his step-father giving him the death stare from across the room. He acknowledged his frustration and quickly brushed it aside. In front of his step father's desk, Lulu was seated on the left with Nana on her left shoulder using a fold on her dress as a barricade for what was on the right of Lulu. Ulquiorra sat on the right side of Lulu, not taking the time to look at the late Ikuto, keeping his attention on the director. Ikuto read the room and took his place leaned up on the wall on the right side of the room with Yoru floating on his left keeping his eyes on Ulquiorra like a trained cat chasing a mouse, but in this little game with Yoru, it might be a little difficult to determine who is the cat and who is the mouse?

"Now that everybody has arrived, we can now begin this meeting." The Director announced the three operatives. "Gozen is becoming impatient. I have managed to help him maintain his patience for a little longer, but I don't know for how long. We have to step up our effort to capture the Embryo." Before the director continued, Ulquiorra voiced in a concern.

"Pardon the intrusion, but who is this Gozen?"

"That's right. You're still new here, so you have not heard of him. Gozen is the boss of Easter. He is the one that is truly in charge. Though I do have responsibilities and power, Gonzo is the one who is truly in charge." The Director explained.

"How come I have not met him already?" he asked.

"Gozen likes his privacy, so he does not meet with anyone with me being the exception. However, there are those lucky enough who earn the privilege to be in his presence. Ikuto over there has obtained that privilege." He gestured towards Ikuto, who was still leaned up against the wall with his eyes directed towards the left as he did not want to make any eye contact with them.

"If there are no further questions, then we can continue with the meeting. Seeing Gozen's patience thinning, I have decided to accelerate our plan to capture the Embryo. Our team of scientist have create a machine that will allow us to do just that. I will let our team of scientist explain how this machine works." At that moment, the door to the office opened, revealing the three scientist stooges. They all walked in a straight line until they got in front of the Director's desk. They then opened themselves up to the three audience members. Tsukumo, the head scientist, opened up a rolled-up piece of blue paper while the other two set up a stand. Tsukumo placed the blue-paper on the stand, revealing a picture of the machine the director talked about.

"What you see before you is the most brilliant, high tech device for hunting down the Embryo. I call it, The Embryo Finder X. What this machine will do it will attract many X-eggs from the surrounding area. It does this by using this." Right then, he pulled out a vile from one of his shirt pockets. The vile itself was small, no bigger than a lighter. Inside it, there was a dark purple misty substance swirling around violently.

"This here is the power source, concentrated X-egg energy. We gather numerous X-eggs, and transferred the energy into a small vile in order to create this power cell." In the schematics of the machine, it revealed that the Embryo Finder X required 3 vials of X-egg energy in order to power as show in the schematics where three vials are next to a thunder bolt. It was at this point the Director took back control of the meeting.

"What you three will be doing is to stay near this machine for its power source is very fragile. There is a reason why you three will be near it is because we intend to place this machine in Seiyo Academy. Last time we performed an operation, the Embryo revealed itself, but it managed to get away thanks to **someone** firing a flare at it!" The Director angrily expressed while giving a death stare at the three scientist, but more towards Tsukumo who had sweat running down his entire body.

"We believe that the Embryo will most likely appear at the school, so the best place to test out this machine would naturally be there. Seeing that it is at the school, there is a guarantee that those troublesome Guardians will endeavor to stop us."

All three operatives were taken back by this news. Lulu was the one who had the most trouble with this. The Guardians do not suspect her of having any affiliations with Easter, and it would be to her advantage to keep it like that. The worry about blowing her cover is a real danger for her. A single sweat drop formed on the right temple of her head, and it slowly migrates towards the bottom of her chin before it gains enough weight for the single drop to leave her face, and let gravity do the rest. Ikuto remained leaning against the wall keeping his cool demeanor in front of everybody. If this was anything like last time, Amu wouldn't have a problem, but this was nothing like last time because Ulquiorra was here, and Ikuto has no idea of what he is capable of. Throughout these past couple of days, Ikuto has kept an eye on the arrancar, but he has yet to reveal anything. As a matter of fact, he knows nothing about him other than his name and his investment in Amu. He has to learn more and soon, but right now, he has to remain calm and remain leaning against the wall like the news didn't faze him at all. Ulquiorra kept silent.

"This mission was supposed to be in effect earlier in the week, but our team of scientist ran into a few problem in which we had to delay the mission. Normally, I would not tolerate such delays, but considering the circumstances around our newest agent, I have decided to make an exception." The director shared. As he shared this, he stood up from his chair and walked towards the blinds-closed window.

"Speaking of our newest agent… Ulquiorra, I have decided to leave you in command of this mission. As such, you will give orders to Lulu, Ikuto, and the three idiot scientist. I usually would never do this, but you have managed to catch the eye of Gozen. As such, I suspect you will perform your best and do what you see as fit. Can you handle this great responsibility?" The Director questioned the fourth Espada. Ulquiorra arose from his seat, and took got down on one knee before bowing his head.

"Yes, Director. You have nothing to fear for I will do whatever is necessary to ensure that this mission is a success." Ulquiorra promised. This action was not unfamiliar to Ulquiorra for he has bowed down to Lord Aizen several times whenever he is summoned by him. The act alone of Ulquiorra bowing down to somebody other than Lord Aizen vividly shows his loyalty to his new boss... at least, until he finds a way to return back to Hueco Mundo. Also, it can help him gain more trust from the Director for this Gozen person has gotten Ulquiorra curious as to who he is. People these days no longer perform such actions as to bowing down before somebody like he was a king, so this showed to the people in the office a little bit of the kind of mind set Ulquiorra had. Lulu was thrown in a loop for she would never expect a person like Ulquiorra to kneel before somebody in such a fashion. In fact, she found it a little hysterical for Ulquiorra do get himself in a position like that. _Some servant serving his master_. _Hmph,_ _this isn't feudal Japan_ _anymore_. She thought to herself. She quickly turned away and covered her mouth for silent giggles began to slip out from her mouth. She can't just start laughing in a place like this. The only person who picked up on this giggling was Ulquiorra, but like his apathetic nature, he did not really care. Ikuto remained silent for he has learned something new about the arrancar. Yoru, like Lulu, found it hysterical for someone as scary as him would position himself like that.

"Ikuto, why is he in a position like that, nya? He looks ridiculous!" Yoru laughingly said to Ikuto.

"Not now. And you should stop laughing." Ikuto warned.

"Why?! Ha, ha, ha."

"Because I am sure that he can hear you even though you are trying to be quiet." And right he was. After Yoru wiped away a tear, he turned in Ulquiorra's direction only to find one of the Espada's cold, emotionless eyes staring at Yoru. Yoru waved his arms and legs around franticly and instantly fled behind Ikuto. The director found Ulquiorra's gesture quite pleasing. A fitting role for a person like him. _People should do more things like this._ He thought to himself, but performing such actions in this time and age would bring unwanted attention as people would gawk at a weirdly clad man bowing down before somebody.

"Please, Ulquiorra. While I appreciate your devotion to the company, I asked that you'd refrain from such actions." The Director requested of him. Ulquiorra raises his head along with his entire body.

"If that is what you wish." The Director then turned his attention to the other two operatives in the room.

"Now, you two. Ulquiorra is in charge, so I expect you two to follow whatever he says, or there will be harsh repercussions." A small silence came as nobody wanted to object… at least, not at first. After several moments of silence, the director was about to move on until…

"I have a problem with this." Lulu announced to everybody. "How come the new guy is in charge of the operation? He has only been here for four days, and now he is in charge of an operation? I'm sorry, but I cannot accept such an action." Expressed Lulu with concern and a bit of anger in her voice. The Director remained silent in his chair waiting for Lulu to get all her frustrations on the table. He can understand where she is coming from for in his younger days, he has been in the same position she was in; however, this was already set up from the beginning. The moment the Director hired Ulquiorra, he planned for his skills to be tested, and one of the skill that must be tested was leadership to better understand what he is capable of. There was also another part of him that didn't care for whatever Lulu was complaining about, so like a child, he waited for her to get her anger out of her system so he can explain to her why he has done this.

"I can understand where you are coming from. A new guy coming here and now in a position of power? I get that. The reason why I have made this choice was to test Ulquiorra and see what he can offer to Easter. You have those charms to create the enigma egg. They have served Easter well, but have yet to lure out the Embryo. I don't quite understand it, but Ulquiorra also has some sort of power, and I want to see what he is capable of to better serve this company. Ulquiorra is in charge. If you have a problem with this, then take it up with him."

But…"

"Like I have already stated, direct all concerns and issues to Ulquiorra, and if you cannot follow such a simple task, then you may leave if that is what you desire." He abruptly cut her off, striking fear into Lulu from his sudden change of demeanor. This was all troubling to Lulu. There was no doubt that she wanted to leave Easter for she was just using them, but then that would significantly cut her chances of finding the Embryo for she would have no access to Easter's resources. She needs Easter if she ever wants to achieve her goals. She reconciled her defeat, and promptly sat back down. With that matter settled, there was only one more person to address.

"What about you? Do you have any problems with the leadership?" The Director sternly asked his step-son.

"No." Ikuto uttered plainly. The Director stared at him for a while.

"Good. Now that this matter has been settles, I want the two of you to leave for I have something important to talk about with Ulquiorra." He ordered. Both got up from their positions, and walked towards the door. Before leaving, Ikuto took one last look his step-father and Ulquiorra, and was surprised to find Ulquiorra staring back at him. They make brief eye contact before Ikuto breaks off and leaves the room. The director was the first to speak up.

"It appears you are quite the person of interest at this company for you will be bestowed with a great honor."

* * *

School was pretty much decent today. Amu's classes weren't particularly hard, but she did find some challenge during her English class because she had a arduous time identifying the independent clause within a sentence when it is riddled with multiple dependent clauses. Once school was finished, she was right about to leave the class room until Nikaidou-sensei called her back. It turns out that it was her turn to clean the classroom along with some other student. This did mess with her plan for she was going to tell the Guardians everything. Rima and Tadase said their good-byes and left for the Royal Garden, leaving Amu and some other student in the class room cleaning up. All she had to do was sweep the floor, clean the chalk board, organize materials, clean off the desk, etc. This would have been no problem if she would have character changed with Su, but seeing that there was a non-egg holder person with her, and Su not being present for she decided to be with the other Guardians, she had no choice but to clean with her own two hands. Using speed and precision, she performed all the task that was required of her. The other student couldn't believe how fast she was cleaning. The entire process took only an hour. Once she finished, she quickly made her way towards the Royal Garden. Upon arrival, she could hear jovial laughs coming from the center. She can see all of her friends and extra person; somebody must be visiting, but who would visit them at this time? Curious as to who it was, she made her way towards the table. She did not need to know who it was for she could recognize anywhere that light-brown, somewhat-messy hair.

"Kukai!" Amu shouted, surprised to see him here.

'Yo, Hinamori, how it been?" he casually asked her while giving her a smile and a thumbs up. Amu couldn't respond to his question for she was too much in shock from seeing Kukai. He goes to middle school now, so she rarely sees him. The last time she saw him was when they first encountered the Embryo, and she hasn't seen him since. Another voice decided to answer for her

"I think she is happy see you. We are all happy to see you, Souma-san." Tadase interjected. Amu, snapping out of her amazement, nodded to whatever Tadase said.

"Kukai, it has been so long. Things are not the same without you around. Why didn't you just flunk so that we all could have been together for one more year?" Yaya questioned him in a high-pitch whiny voice.

"Because I don't want to be held back." Kukai answered plainly. Yaya formed a frown on her face for she did not like his answer.

"It is great to see you again, Souma-san." Rima interjected with a calm voice. She hasn't known Kukai like the rest of the Guardians, so she doesn't have that deep of a friendship with her sempai. She'll try in the future to get to know him better, but right now, she must treat him as her upper classmen.

"Good to see you again, Miss Queen." He playfully said. Kusukusu couldn't help but laugh at that comment. Daichi and the rest of the guardians were all on the table greeting each other like usual. All were huddled around Daichi because they have not seen him in a while. They asked much-expected questions like how he has been, what middle school is like, and has he met other guardian angels. Off to the side of the group. Kiseki began to get a little jealous as nobody was paying attention to him. He tried to call his subjects over, but nobody, except Pepe, listened. The only reason why Pepe listen was so to tell him that nobody was listening. Then she returned to the crowd, leaving a defeated Kiseki on the table.

Returning back to the Guardians, they all sat around the table drinking tea as usual and trying to catch up with one another, save for Amu, who has been rather quiet and has not touched her tea.

"So Hinamori, is there something on your mind because you haven't touched your tea." Kukai picked out from her odd behavior.

"Well, something has been bothering me, and I feel that I have to tell all of you what I have found out." She explained in a sad tone. All jovial conversations were halted, and only a serious mood was adopted. It was time for Amu to explain her findings.

 _A twenty minutes later…_

"This is all very intriguing. Are you positive that Dia spoke to you?" Kukai asked again to ensure confirmation. The past twenty minutes, Amu has been explaining everything that has happened to her. They already confirmed that they all felt the presence on Thursday night, and they talked about how there has been a rise of X-eggs since then. Everybody was taking all of this seriously, especially Tadase. Once he heard that Ikuto might be involved, his sweet, gentle smile disappeared, only for a serious, agitated expression to replace it. Amu noticed his sudden change of demeanor. She knows that he get like this every time Ikuto is involved. She wants to know what happened between them, but she feel that in might be too personal for him or Ikuto to explain seeing that it does not involve her. It times like this that she worries about Tadase, and she is relieved once he returns to his smiling self.

"Yes I am sure that Dia talked to me. This is like the other time that she reached out to me. Asking me questions about my dreams. The nest thing I knew, we found the Embryo, so I doubt that her talking to me wouldn't be out of the blue. Judging from what she said, something is coming, and we must prepared for it." Amu explained.

"I agree with Hinamori-san. If this is like anything like before, then there is a good chance that the Embryo will make an appearance again. We have to retrieve it. Chances are that Easter might be planning something to seize the Embryo once it shows itself" Tadase explained.

"But there is a problem with that." Nagihiko brought up. "I wasn't here last time, and I already heard the details from Amu-chan, but didn't Nikaidou-sensei tell you about what Easter is planning. Without him, then we would have never known about their plans until it was too late. How do you plan to stop them if you don't know where they will execute their plan?" He was right. The only reason they all knew about their plan was because Amu bumped into him along with Sanjou-san in the city while they were on some sort of date—even though they denied that. They threw a party for the arrival of the Embryo only to find one of Easter's plans in action. Without such knowledge, they won't know where they will strike. Defeat took ahold of Amu as she slowly came to the conclusion that finding where Easter will strike will be next to impossible.

"Hey Amu-chan, don't give up, desu. I'm sure we will find Easter. As long as we don't give up, then nothing impossible." Su reassured her.

"Yeah, but how? We don't know where they will be, and we have no way of finding out where they will go?" Amu rebutted. As the atmosphere began to heavy, a different voice counteracted her answer.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Himamori-san." There was only one person Amu knew that would call her by that name. Everybody shifted their attention towards the entrance.

"Nikaidou-sensei!" Everybody shouted in unison.

"Why are you here?" Amu asked her teacher.

"I came here because I was looking for you. I have something to tell you, but you left the classroom in such a hurry that I thought you went home. I asked around, and the students told me that you were here." He explained.

"What did you want to tell me, then?" Amu continued

"I got word again from Tsukumo, a scientist who works at Easter, that they are planning to execute their plan at this school." Nikaidou announced.

"Really? How did you hear about this? You quit Easter?" Amu pointed out.

"I guess Tsukumo again forgot to drop me from his account because whenever he needs to tell the science team something important, he would use his account to send the announcement to everybody, including us field agents. I thought he would have done something the first time he did it, but I guess he might have forgotten." Finally some good news. The Guardians have once again escaped from the jaws of defeat for now they know where Easter will strike. Everybody began communicating with each other for now they have to form a plan in order to stop the impending attack. Su, on the other hand, floated towards Nikaidou-sensei

"Thank you, Sensei. You have been a great help to us once more, desu." Su thanked with a warm smile directed at him. Nikaidou couldn't help but look away as his cheeks began to redden.

"I-it was no big deal. I thought that you guys would benefit from it. And besides, I'm Hinamori-san's teacher. I am supposed to look out for my students."

"But still, thank you for looking out for us." She thanked him again. Nikaidou only replied with a smile. Before he can leave, he remembered that he one more thing to tell them.

"Before I forget, from what I have read from the e-mail, it seems that Easter has hired a new field agent." He informed the Guardians.

"A new agent, huh. Is there anything that we should know?" Tadase asked.

"The e-mail didn't say much. It didn't include a name, but from the sounds of it, he sound pretty intimidating." Nikaidou states, He can tell just be the e-mail that Tsukumo didn't like this guy. The way he described him in the e-mail showed Tsukumo's dislike of the new guy.

"Somebody that is intimidating. I don't like the sounds of this. Especially since we don't know what he is capable of." Nagihiko voiced his concerns. _Could this have been what Ikuto was talking about?_ Amu remembered back to when she first talked to Ikuto back in the park at night. He said that Easter was preparing for something, so could this new discovery of an impending attack been what Easter was planning, or was it only the first step to whatever sinister plan they have? How will Ikuto play in all this? And who is this new person that works for Easter? These concern will only continue to grow as time progress.

"Well, it is about time I take my leave. Those papers aren't going to grade themselves." Nikaidou exclaimed as he made his way towards the exit.

"Sensei, thank you for helping us out again." Amu announced is a more-cheerful tone.

'Don't thank me yet because I'm grading your paper first, and I have a standard for you specifically." He stated as he held his right as he left. Amu eyes' squinted and she frown upon hearing what he said. Once he was completely gone, the frown she made disappeared as soon as it formed. She was truly thankful for his help. To think that he was once their adversary, and now he is her home teacher. It is amazing how people can have a sudden change of heart.

"Alright you guys, it time to stop Easter's plans once more." Amu commanded as she stood up from her chair.

* * *

 _Easter Headquarters_

Ikuto and Lulu patiently waited out in the Lobby. They had to wait because the operations leader having a conversation with the Director about who knows what. Did they want to know? The answer was yes, but they knew that they probably would never learn of it because both of them prefer to keep a safe distance from him. So now they wait. Lulu was sitting on the couch talking with Nana about what to do once they get home. They talked about possibly making some sweets, or make more jewelry to extract more enigma eggs. Across the room, Ikuto stood leaned against the wall with Yoru sitting on his shoulder contemplating when he was going to have something to eat. Both parties had nothing to say to one another, or rather, they did not want to talk with each other. Lulu was still upset about the first time they met when she put out her hand to shake. Since then, they would usually stay out of each other's way and not meddle in each other's business. In a way, they are like adversaries. The funny thing about adversaries is that they will at times stop their hostilities with each other once a common foe had appeared. The silence in the lobby almost deafening, until Lulu decided to shatter that silence by opening her mouth.

"Hey, I know that we don't get along, but I going on a limb and saying that we both don't like the new guy. Is that a fair assumption?" She inquired of Ikuto. Ikuto remained silent, instead answering her with him giving her his attention by making eye contact with Lulu.

"I'll take that silence and your attention as a yes. By now, I am sure that Yoru has explained unsettling power within Ulquiorra, so I won't go into detail about that. What I want to know is what he is planning. I get the feeling that there is more to him than being the Director's lap dog. I feel as if he has an alternative motive. What about you? I want to know what you think of him." She told him with a little too much determination. Lulu didn't really like Ikuto, but compared to what she thinks of Ulquiorra, Ikuto just might be her only friend in this company that she trust.

"I don't really think much of him. He works here. That is all I need to know." Ikuto confessed, though that is truly not what he thinks.

"C'mon, you have to admit that he give you the creeps. If he is giving off such a sensation just by being near him, then that means there is something he is hiding. If Nana finds him unsettling, then there is some cause for concern. You at least have to admit to that." She explained. Lulu wondered how Ikuto can really think like that. To be coworkers with somebody who exerts such power and pretend not to notice it. On one hand, he worked for Easter, so that would automatically make him an ally. On the other hand, she did not trust him for he is too secretive. She waited for Ikuto to respond, but he kept silent for a few moments before finally getting back to her.

"Like I said, He works here, and that is all I need to know. Beside, this isn't the first time a worker would exhibit some sort of power. There used to be an operative who would use X-eggs to attack. At the time, I could feel the power he had, but he couldn't do much other than attack. My guess is that Ulquiorra has some sort of X-egg reserves somewhere and has somehow managed to condense all that negative energy somewhere."

"Yeah, but…" before she could finish the rest of the sentence, the sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway. The sounds that came did not sound like those of someone wearing shoes but of those wearing sandals. The sounds grew louder as the source came closer. It was none other than the person Ikuto and Lulu were talking about… Ulquiorra. He kept his stare straight ahead, not wanting to turn his head to see Lulu and Ikuto. He stood there for a moment, like he was waiting for something. Nobody moved for what seems to be the longest minute. Everybody waited until somebody did something. Yoru and Nana also participated in the awkward silence as they were too afraid to be the first one to break the silence. Then, suddenly, a voice broke the infinite silence.

"What are you all waiting for? The Director has put me in charge, and as such, I expect nothing but your complete participation. Gather around because I have to give you to a briefing of the operation."

Both reluctant at first, Ikuto and Lulu got up from their respective positions and took their time to get in front of Ulquiorra. Once there, they both didn't say anything. Lulu crossed her arms and was looking at the wall for she does not want to make eye contact with Ulquiorra. Ikuto had his hands in his pockets and gave Ulquiorra his attention. It would just be easier to cooperate than to show any sort of defiance to the arrancar.

"Let's get one thing straight. I may be following your orders, but that doesn't mean I am fine with you being in charge. I don't know why the Director would test you now instead of giving control of the operation to somebody who has been working here longer." Lulu expressed her true thoughts to the arrancar.

"I doesn't matter to me what you think because I don't want you to take any part of this mission." He revealed to her in his usual stoic tone.

"What!?"

"The Director has given me full control of the operation, and you participating in this operation would be a liability that I cannot take. In fact, I do not see you having any purpose in this mission other than you getting in the way." Rage began to build within Lulu. _How can this guy dismiss me so quickly?_

"but you can't do that." She explained. It was true that she did not want to take part of this mission, but the way Ulquiorra just dismissed her like she was a months-old sandwich, she couldn't help but feel aggravated by this dismissal of her.

"Like I said, you have no purpose in this mission. I have no records of you ever performing a Character Transformation, which means that you will most likely get in the way. Plus, you seem to have deceived the Guardians of thinking of you as an ally. I would not go as far as to blow your cover if they confronted you during the mission, so it is in the best interest of everybody that you would reframe from participating in the operation." He explained. Lulu was right about to explode in front of his face until she thought about what he said, and he was right. The guardians have no idea she works for Easter and is the one creating the Enigma eggs. She understood that. She did not like the idea that he had a point, but what was she going to do. At least she will not have to be with him. Taking her defeat like a champion, she brushed her hair off and headed for the nearest exit in the lobby.

"Fine, I guess al have to listen to you. It is not like I have a choice." She scoffed before passing through the door, leaving Ikuto and Yoru behind with Ulquiorra. Both remained standing there watching this whole fiasco. Once she left, the only ones in the lobby were Ikuto and Ulquiorra. Ikuto was the first to speak up between the two of them

"What about me? Do you have any plans for me?" Ikuto questioned his new superior.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I don't know what your relationship is with that girl or her friends, and I have a feeling that you would go as far as to sabotage this plan. That is why I want you to stay an arm's length away. I don't want any unexpected occurance to happen when you are not here." Ulquiorra stated in what sounds to be in a more serious tone. Ikuto is sure that he doesn't trust him, and the same is likewise. Both feel that the other might do something that would be a problem if the two were to be by themselves. Ulquiorra doesn't quite yet understand the relationship between him and Amu, but he is sure that it isn't a hostile relationship. Ikuto feels that if Ulquiorra was to be by himself during the operation, he might possible do something to the Guardians. This is not on the level of what Nikaidou or Sanjou have done. To Ikuto, Ulquiorra is more dangerous than Nikaidou and Sanjou could ever do. Ikuto doesn't want Amu to face such an adversary, so the best thing he can do right now is stay close to Ulquiorra and try to learn his true objectives.

"Now that we have gotten those matters out of the way, this is what I want you to do."

* * *

It was time for the Guardians to stop Easter's plan. Since they were going to stay after hours in the school and probably go into the night, all of them made sure that they had permission to stay out a little longer. Of course, parents were not going to let their children go out in the night where darkness and possibly dangerous people lurk within. Naturally, they opposed them staying; however, seeing that it might come to this, all of them coordinated and said that their teacher, Nikaidou-sensei, will be there with them. The parents did not have any problem with that, but Nikaidou did at first. He was looking forward to relaxing and watching some much-needed television. When he heard he had to watch the Guardian's, he was initially not too pleased to hear that. It was thanks to Su that Nikaidou was able to change his mind. It was probably for the best because Sanjou-san might have called him up during the night and demand a request from him, which he cannot deny, so watching children during the night will get him out of any chores she might ask of him.

Anyways, now that those matters were taken care of, the Guardians and company were now on top of the roof, similar to last time. If anything was going to come at the school, they would surely see it coming if it was from the sky. Unlike last time where they threw a party to when the Embryo would appear, there was instead multiple chairs set up on the roof so they can sit instead of stand. The mission for them was basically involves playing the waiting game; they don't know how long they will be up on the roof. To help pass the time until Easter showed up, the Guardians talked with one another, trying to learn more about each other in order to deepen their relationships.

"Hinamori-san, are you by chance cold? If so, then I could lend you my jacket." Tadase offered. A chance for Amu to have a taste of heaven. She really wanted to take him up on his offer, until she snapped out of whatever fantasy she was in and noticed everybody staring in her direction.

"I-its okay. I am not cold at all. Who would be cold in a night like this?" She reflexively said in a pompous, stubborn tone.

"There goes her chance." Ran commented.

"She really have to control that outside character." Miki added on.

Now that the love scene was over, everybody returned to talking with one another.

"Hey Rima, the night is pretty beautiful, don't you think." Nagihiko said trying to start a conversation with her.

"Not really. I have seen way more beautiful nights then this." She fired back.

"I see. Well, at least we get to share this sky with all of our friends." He replied.

Moving over to Yaya and Kukai…

"Kukai, why didn't you bring any snacks? You always bring snacks." Yaya whined.

"It is not always my job to get you snacks, and besides, we are on a mission to stop Easter. I don't think eating on the job is wise." Kukai answered her, to which she rebuttal with…

"But you can't do missions on an empty stomach. Go buy Snacks, go buy snacks." This charade would go on for a while. Nikaidou, in the meanwhile, was standing out from the circle and was leaning against the railing having a nice conversation with Su.

"How is your robotics club doing, desu?"

"It is going well. Thanks for asking. I have really found some people who I can share my knowledge with. I am very happy." Everybody was contempt with one another having their conversations. It helped pass the time.

Sunset slowly turned to night. The stars revealed themselves to the Guardians as sunlight began to fade from the skies and allow light from the stars to glow through. During the past couple of days, Nighttime was considerably warm throughout, but for some reason today, if felt colder than it should be. Rima remembers watching the forecast for tonight, and the meteorologist said that they should expect fresh nights with mild temperatures, but tonight, it was not as she predicted. The females hugged their coats a little tighter as the night dragged on. The guardian angels all went to their respective bears to help maintain their heat.

"Man, tonight is a lot colder than I expected." Kukai stated. "The last couple of nights, it has been considerably warm."

"Yes, I know what you mean. The weatherwoman said that we should expect warm nights, but this doesn't feel warm. I can feel the goosebumps forming on my arms and legs." Rima added as she hugged her coat tighter.

"I find it a little strange that on this particular day, it happens to be cold on the same day Easter executes one of its plans." Nagihiko pointed out.

"Maybe the cold weather is a response to Easter's plan." Nikaidou-sensei suggested.

"When I worked for Easter, while I was at the abandoned building in the outskirts of town, I did find it colder than usual the day Hinamori-san decided to confront me. Do you remember finding the weather a little cold? He asked.

"I remember it wasn't a sunny day. In fact, it was foggy if I remember it correctly." She replied.

"Now that I think about it…" Before the conversation can continue, all the guardian angels froze as a presence draped over all of them.

"Guys, do you feel that?" Ran asked the crowd.

"Yes, I do."

"Same here."

"This is not good."

"Kiseki, what wrong." Tadase asked urgently.

"Tadase, I sense multiple X-eggs coming from all around us." He stated. This can only mean one thing to the Guardian: Easter must be making its move. Looking out into the sky, the Guardians can see multiple black eggs coming from all directions. 360 degrees, X-eggs strode into the schools airspace. They were taken by surprise when a group of seven X-eggs came from the side of the building. All of them took a stance for the impending attack, but to their amazement, the X-eggs ignored them and flew right past them. Puzzled as to why they did not attack, Rima got the attention of everybody.

"Everyone! Look over there!" She shouted as she pointed toward the direction of the small forest behind the school. Over the trees, they can see a cluster of X-eggs hovering around in a circle like they were being drawn there. As more eggs began to go to the spot, the circling X-eggs soon changed into a vortex. More and more X-eggs continued to add on into the vortex, gaining more power as more eggs were absorbed into it. At this rate, if they don't do something, then there could be a disaster for the school. Luckily, the school had the Guardians. Each Guardian Stood defiantly up to the vortex, looking at it with fierce determination. All of them stood in a line, giving each other quick glances as they knew what they had to do.

"Come on, guys. Let's go stop Easter." Amu declared.

"My Heart, Unlock!" They shouted in unison.

* * *

 **I have an announcement. Currently, I am thinking of starting another story. I have already worked on the beginning, but it is far from over. However, I am currently still in progress in this story. I want to know what you guys think? As for what the story is about, one of the cross-over material will use the Strike Witches universe, the other will be a secret. (It is not the Avengers for those who have read those one-shots, though I will continue those). Anyways, Let me know what you guys think. Would you like to at least see a preview or should I place it on the back burner and focus more on this story? And just to be safe, I do not own Strike Witches. For those who are worried, I have developed a system of working on my stories a little bit each day before I sleep, so what I would be doing is working on both stories.**


	8. Ch 8 Uncertainty

Ch. 8 Uncertainty

 _Several Minutes before the Guardian's encounter…_

The wood behind the school always seemed peaceful during the day. It provides a shelter to all that need a respite from hard times as the woods establish a sense of awe onto the beholder. However, that peace and solace insidiously disappears with the sun as the shadows and darkness ascend, taking over the night while sunlight flees. The forest itself transforms into an endless darkness filled with nightmare-like trees upon those who fear the night. Even the atmosphere plays along with the mood as the cold, brisk air strides along the skin causing goosebumps and producing a sense of coldness... a perfect setting for Easter to put their plan into action.

Ikuto walked through the woods of Seiyo Academy, endeavoring to locate the Embryo Finder X that was placed in these woods not long after the school let out the children. Somehow, Tsukumo and the rest of his science team managed to sneak such a machine into these woods without being noticed, and that is saying much as the area around the school is littered with heavy with heavy pedestrian traffic. Ikuto can only wonder as to how they managed to do sneak a four-foot tall machine into the woods without anybody noticing. It was probably better for him to not think about how those clumsy scientists managed to perform such a fleet. He continued his venture into the woods still trying to find the location of the machine. Ikuto was present when Ulquiorra was speaking to Tsukumo about where he wanted it to be placed. From what he can hear, it seemed as though Ulquiorra wanted this machine in a very specific place as their conversation did last longer than it should have been, if he can call it a conversation. The "conversation" those two had was basically Ulquiorra talking, giving explicit details, and Tsukumo nodding at everything he was saying; Ikuto could tell that he did not want to be there with Ulquiorra for he looked a little pale when he conversed with him. Once the conversation ended, Tsukumo left in a hurried manner. He was probably going to do what Ulquiorra asked of him. Going back to the current setting, Ikuto took his right hand and put it in his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of yellow paper. It unfolded it and read the directions that was given to him.

 _Go to the center of the woods behind Seiyo Academy. You will know when you are there._

This was the note that was given to his by Ulquiorra, who, despite what he looked like, had unexpectedly impressive hand writing. Even if it was written well, the message was very ambiguous for people can lose themselves these woods at night if they don't have thorough knowledge of the land. Why give somebody such directions-if they can be called that—if they didn't know what he was talking about? Ikuto thought that it might have been some sort of test to see if he is capable for such a task. Maybe Ulquiorra thought that Ikuto can handle himself and is more-than-capable of performing actions that most other people were not capable of? He folded up the paper and placed it back into his pocket and continued his venture through the school's forest.

Ikuto did not like the fact that Ulquiorra was right about him.

During this time with Ikuto, Yoru was floating right behind him snacking on a fish-shaped taiyaki that Ikuto bought him. The only reason why Ikuto got him that was to keep Yoru quiet during his meeting with Ulquiorra as Ikuto doesn't want Yoru to interfere with any of his affairs that involve Ulquiorra. It was mostly out of his safety, but he would never admit that to him. Yoru would have been quiet for nothing seeing the fact Ulquiorra gives Yoru the creeps, but if he could secure a reward for his silence, he would gladly do that. Once finished with the taiyaki, Yoru wiped off all the crumbs around his mouth before realizing Ikuto is a few feet in front of him, to which he speeded up to catch up to him. To Yoru, it felt like Ikuto was just wandering around in these dark woods and is going nowhere or lost. He decided to voice in his concerns.

"Ikuto, are we lost, nya?" he asked

"No, we're not. We are in the forest, so we are in the right place." He informed him. Yoru could only raise an eyebrow for his response. _Talk about pointing out the obvious, nya,_ Yoru thought to himself.

"Why would Ulquiorra want to place such a machine out here? It is too dark, and somebody could get lost." Yoru explained his though process. "If you ask me, maybe it so that Amu and her friends can't find it. If I didn't want people to find something important like that big machine, then I guess I would have stashed it in a forest. Speaking of which, do you think Amu and her friends will be here because I doubt that they know what we are doing?" He asked Ikuto. Ikuto remained silent for a good amount of time before he responded back to Yoru's question.

"She will be here." He answered him.

"How do you know?"

"Because Amu will not allow Easter to succeed…" he stopped himself as he did not like the next thing he was about to say. "And that is what Ulquiorra is counting on."

"What?"

"I'll explain it to you later, but right now, be quiet because we are here." Looking head of them, they saw something unusual. Surrounding them were a bunch of trees and bushes with green leaves, but what they saw a small area where the trees had no leaves. There were some, but it would be more accurate to say that the trees lied there naked as the branches were exposed. On the ground were a bunch of rotting leaves that were colored gray instead of red, yellow, or orange. The last thing that caught their attention was the machine that was placed right in the middle of it. Ikuto recognized it as the Embryo Finger X. Upon closer inspection of the device, Ikuto noticed a flashing red light, signaling that something was wrong. As Ikuto got closer to the machine, he saw a hatch open. The hatch that was open was the power because right next to the hatch was the thunderbolt. Looking inside, he saw the two energy cells placed into it, but the third one remained empty.

"You finally found this place." A familiar voice spoke from the shadows.

"You did say that I would be able to tell that I was here, and you did not lie." Ikuto responded.

"The reason why these tress and leaves are lifeless was due to an X-character that was here several days ago. You can guess as to how that ended." He responded.

"… Is that why you picked here of all places? To have her come to this spot where she purified it." Ikuto questioned.

"Not exactly." Ulquiorra responded as he revealed himself from the shadows of the trees. "but you are not wrong either." Rummaging round in his pocket, Ulquiorra pulled out a long cylinder object. The object in question was a vial of X-egg energy, the last power cell needed to activate the machine. He walked up to the machine and place one hand on it. He took one look at the vial before he hovered it over the empty power cell slot.

"You do remember what I told you earlier in the day? You are not to interfere with the upcoming engagement. Once the machine is activated, keep a safe distance and only observe. If you do decide to interfere, then I will not stop you, but note you will force my hand to execute plan B. Do I make myself clear?" Ulquiorra explained. Ikuto remained silent, letting the cold gust of wind pass by him and Ulquiorra.

"I understand." He stated monotonously.

"Very well, then let us begin." Before he placed the vial into the slot, Ikuto interrupted him.

"Before you start, I have a question. What are you really after?" he asked accusing him of something else.

"What do you mean by that?" Ulquiorra questioned almost in an irritated manner.

"You spend days gathering information about the Guardians…no, you spend days observing Amu. I know that you read her file, but you decided to watch her, to see her in action. What is it that you are planning to do here?" Ikuto revealed. The wind began to pick up as Ulquiorra remained standing in front of the machine, not moving an inch after Ikuto's revelation. His hand began to move away from the machine and turned directly to Ikuto. Ulquiorra always had that same stare. Most people would think that he was just gloomy, but Ikuto noticed something different about the stare he was giving him. It was almost as if he was…annoyed, irritated with Ikuto. After what seemed to be like an eternity, Ulquiorra turned back his attention towards the machine and again hovered his hand with the vile over the slot.

"I am simply doing what I see is fit." He stated. He motioned his hand down, planting the last battery for the machine into the slot. The machine gave out a loud "cluck" before a purple glow began to illuminate the machine. Ulquiorra took a few steps back before he turned around and proceeded into the shadowy woods.

"I suggest you get a move on and find a place to watch." He advised before he disappeared into the shrubbery. Ikuto had no other choice. He character changed with Yoru and jumped in the opposite direction Ulquiorra went. It was quite expected of him to go in a different direction, another action that Ulquiorra was counting on. Now that all the pieced are set, it was time for him Ulquiorra to step back and allow his true plan to come into action.

 _Now that Ikuto is in motion, the very thing that I wanted him to be, it is time for my true plan to take action. Hinamori Amu, let us see what you are capable of_.

* * *

A big light illuminated the night sky as the four guardians and Kukai began their transformations. Starting off with Yaya, the clothes around her grew bright as they turned into light orbs and floated away. Pepe returned back into her egg shell and phased through Yaya's chest. Soon, a pink baby outfit appeared onto Yaya with a white bib around her next. She wore bunny-like slippers and had two big, flappy, bunny ears on her.

"Character Transformation, Dear Baby!"

Next was Kukai. Once Dashi morphed through his Kukai's chest, becoming one with him, a green pilots jacket appeared on him with a star logo located around his shoulders. His green jacket was unbuttoned, exposing his white puffy shirt that resided underneath. A pilot's bandana with goggles over it also appeared on his forehead. Located just at the left of his goggles was a yellow star. He also wore light-green pants and black boots.

"Character Transformation, Sky Jack!"

Rima's outfit consisted of a big red bow on top her head along with a pink dress and a red collar. Her legs were covered in long, white tights, and she wore wacky, red shoes.

"Character Transformation, Clown Drop!"

Tadase's outfit look very similar to a French King's outfit as the color scheme was all white with ribbons and frills all around his outfit. A hollow king's crown appeared on his head with a king's staff with a red top appearing to complement the entire king attire.

"Character Transformation, Platinum Royal!"

Amu decided that she was going to need Ran on this one as her agility and speed will certainly be needed for this battle. Once Amu became one with Ran, a pink cheerleader outfit appeared on her with a pink tennis hat and pink sneakers along with two ribbons around her neck.

"Character Transformation, Amulet Heart!"

The two non-character bearers, Nagihiko and Nikaidou-sensei, stood back near the fencing of the roof. It was probably for the best since both of them can't character transform and had no effective way of countering the X-eggs. Speaking of the X-eggs, some of them became distracted as a bright, shiny light appeared out of nowhere. Some of their curiosity was too great that it managed to draw in some X-eggs. Just some, the other large amounts of them proceeded towards the Embryo Finder X. Once the light dimmed and revealed the 5 guardians, the X-eggs became irritated and started to scream loudly. One by one, the X-eggs would hover around them as they waited for a necessary amount in order to attack. While it was important for them to take care of these X-eggs, the situation had called otherwise and the vortex of X-eggs continued to grow larger with each passing second. It wouldn't be an easy choice, but that was the only choice the Guardians had to take. The only ones capable of flying were Amu and Kukai, so it would have to be them to lead the main attack.

"You guys stay here and take care of these X-eggs. Kukai and I will head towards the source of the X-egg vortex." Amu declared. Everybody nodded their heads in unison as nobody had an issue with that even though it would mean splitting up their forces in half. Kukai leapt high into the air, allowing for his board to materialize right under his feet. Amu concentrated her mind, and two roller blades with a heart theme appeared right on the bottom of her soles.

"Heart Speeders!" The two then took to the skies and headed towards the purple vortex. Tadase watched Amu off as she didn't have the ability to fly. She was flying right into danger, and he couldn't be there to support her… in person. He knows that she knows that he, along with the other two, will always support her no matter how far way they are. He let out a small smile as a way to show his support for her.

 _Good Luck, Hinamori-san._ He now turned to the current situation at hand.

"Alright! Once we are finished with these X-eggs, we will join up with Hinamori-san and Kukai." Tadase declared while pointing his scepter towards the X-eggs.

"Yes!" All of them shouted. With all of them now ready to engage the X-eggs, the battle of Seiyo Academy was about to commence.

* * *

Amongst the shadows, a lone figure watched as the two Guardians sped towards the concentration of X-eggs. Certainly, the power of so many X-eggs clustered together would be quite hard for the Guardians to bear seeing that the X-eggs produce a sense of sadness; however, the lone figure was not affected by such trivial matters. The concept of sadness was unknown to him as he can only feel the emptiness that has always been with him since his days as an adjucha. Ulquiorra knew that the time was fast approaching before major events would transpire. After he is finished with this operation, he has a very special meeting the President of Easter. The only person who is allowed to see the president was the Director, but there have been special occasions when others obtained the opportunity to meet with the President, or what the Director refers to him as, Gozen. One person that has met with Gozen was Ikuto. How Ikuto ever got a chance meeting with Gozen quite difficult to understand, but Gozen must have his reasons. As a matter of fact, Ulquiorra has overheard the Director talk about Ikuto. The words describing him were pretty, but one description that did catch his attention was puppet. Ulquiorra can deduce that Ikuto was being controlled by Easter. The reasons are unknown, but it seems that the Director has special plans for him in the future. This was all speculation, and he can't just go up to the Director and talk to him about it. Why does Ikuto work for Easter? Using the description puppet may suggest that he is working there against his will. As a matter of fact, there is not time for thinking about Ikuto right now. He will have time for that, but now is not the best seeing that he has his other task to complete. However, thinking about Ikuto has gotten Ulquiorra curious as to where he was. It didn't matter if he can hide or not, he will be able to pinpoint him exactly thanks to his abilities. Using his Pesquisa, he was able to quickly locate Ikuto's position. Where he was right now can be considered discerning.

 _What do you intend on doing being at that range, Tsukiyomi Ikuto?_

* * *

A black mass of synergy came hurling towards Yaya. She scrambled around to hopes to dodge it, but it was too big to dodge. Luckily, Tadase was quick to react.

"Holy Crown!" she shouted as he pointed his scepter towards the black synergy. A golden crown-shape shield appeared, engulfing him, Yaya, and Rima just in time when the synergy collided with his shield. The shield managed to withstand the attack, and that was a good thing because Rima was about to be hit with a different attack, but Tadase's Holy Crown saved her from that.

"Thank you, Tadase-kun." She shouted. Tadase gave her a quick nodded before his holy crown disappeared. The situation of the battle was not satisfactory. As a matter of fact, it could be better. For minutes, the three Guardians were forced in a defensive position as more and more X-eggs joined in the skirmish, quickly growing their numbers and unleashing more punishing attacks. Tadase has been using his Holy Crown several times now to avoid being struck down by a big attack the one before, but that was starting to take a toll on him as his energy was depleting. It was only a matter of time before he and the others would break their transformations. A simpler way of putting it, they were set on a timer, which is why they need to go on the offensive fast or the consequences could dire.

"We have to do something. We can't just be on the defense forever." Rima stated.

"How are we going to help Amu-chi if we can't deal with these X-eggs?" Yaya complied.

"We can't attack without risking injury, and I don't want any of us get injured." Tadase reminds the other Guardians. With no foreseeable options present, the three Guardians were going to remain on the roof top for a very long time. The X-eggs continued their assault on the Guardians without end as once one stopped attacking, another would take its place. It got to the point where the X-eggs began to notice that they all had the same goal: to defeat the Guardians. Usually when masses of X-eggs come together, bad things would start to happen, and this current event is no exception. One by one, the X-eggs began to clump together erratically. Once sufficient X-egg mass was reached, the deformed mass of X-eggs began to reform itself into something powerful, and nothing screamed more powerful than a bigger version of objects, and in this case, a giant X-egg made up of multiple X-eggs. The overall size of the X-eggs was comparable to a car, but the feature that made this egg intimidating was right above the intersections of the 'X,' two opening appeared that glowed purple, acting as the X-eggs eyes. All of the Guardians, including Nagihiko and Nikaidou-sensei, were paralyzed with fear as the X-egg glared at them with its angered eyes, as they can see and feel the malice intend behind the glare. Tadase's grip around his scepter tightened as he realized helping Amu and Kukai would have to wait a little longer as they have barely begun their fight.

* * *

"Do you have any plans as to how to stop these X-eggs?" Kukai asked, realizing that just jumped into a situation that had no plan whatsoever. Amu felt the same when he asked her this. They don't really have a plan of attack against the X-egg vortex, but that wasn't going to stop them from doing their duty.

"Let's first try to find the source that's causing this X-egg Vortex." Amu replied. It was a good start; no one can go wrong with first identifying the problem. The two flew closer to the vortex of X-eggs, causing their bodies to feel the negative emotions and energy generated by all the X-eggs. It was an unpleasant feeling to say the least, but they must push forward as they couldn't let the vortex continue to grow. The X-eggs noticed the two Guardians that were approaching and decided to retaliate. Some of the X-eggs started to line themselves up end to end, bottom to top, to from a line of X-eggs. Once two long lines of X-eggs were formed, they X-eggs began to wiggle around in unison, acting like some sort of whip. One of the whip then launched out towards Amu. Amu was quick enough to dodge the fast-approaching first attack but was taken back when the X-egg whip turned around and headed straight for her again while she was in a vulnerable position. With little reaction time, she clapped her hands together to summon out her pom-poms to absorb the attack. The whip mightily struck her pom-poms with such force that it sent spiraling through the air, but unscathed none the less. As for Kukai, Witnessing Amu taking such a nasty hit, He changed his course in order to assist Amu, but the second whip was not going to allow that to happen. The second whip swiped at Kukai in a horizontal attack. Kukai shifted his body weight back to raise his board up, causing the whip to hit his board. The mighty force caused Kukai to lost his balance, but managed to recover, but not fast enough as the second whip was already in progress of its second attack. This time, it swiped vertically; however, with agility thanks to him playing soccer, he quickly dodged the attack, giving him the advantage as he found himself above the whip of X-eggs. Now it was time to let gravity do its things. He let himself fall, accelerating towards the chain of X-eggs. The force he accumulated hit the whip of X-eggs, causing them to scatter as their formation was severed. Luckily, no X-eggs were smashed in the process.

"Hey, Amu, how are you holding up?!" he yelled.

"Not well!" she replied back as the whip continued to swipe at her multiple times. During Kukai's time, Amu was put on the defense as the whip continued to attack at her without letting her make an attack on it. She would either dodge or block, and she found herself getting tired.

"Amu-chan, we have to do something!" Ran advised Amu by speaking to her mind.

"I know, but the X-eggs are no allowing us to retaliate." She explained, but as she said that, a ball of bright energy quickly shot pass through the whip, dismembering it and reducing it back to its X-egg components. She looked to her left and saw a free-falling Kukai upside down falling through the air with his right foot sticking out in front of him. They both made eye contact with each other, and all Kukai did was give her a smile with a thumbs up, showing her that he has her back. He then shifted himself right-side up and landed on his board. Kukai then drew closer to Amu.

"Thank you, Kukai." Amu expressed, finally having a break.

"Don't thank me yet for we are still in the middle of a fight. Plus, I think we just might have angered the X-eggs." He explained, pointing at the cluster of X-eggs. X-eggs don't make facial expression, but the aura around them felt like anger as they swarmed around in the vortex. The swarming of X-eggs caused a disruption of the vortex, causing to swirling around, thus ceasing the vortex. The now swarming X-eggs then plunged to the ground. Kukai and Amu were a bit thrown off as to what was happening. Were the giving up? Or is something much worse coming? The answer would be the latter as those same X-eggs slowly rose up from the ground, but this time, they seemed to have retrieved something.

"What is that?" Kukai asked as he pointed to the mysterious object.

"It looks like a machine of sorts." Amu replied, not quite sure what it was. She squinted her eyes to see if what she guessed was correct. It was machine, but what exactly was the machine for. Ran once again voice her thoughts as she noticed something off about the X-eggs.

"Amu-chan, I sense concentrated amounts of X-egg energy coming from that area." She shares.

"You mean over there?" she pointed toward where the machine was.

"Yes. In fact, the energy in that area is a lot denser than the rest of the area. I think it might be the source as to what is causing all these X-eggs to gather." She speculated. Amu looked back at the X-egg cluster, and began to ponder how to get to the machine.

"Kukai!" she shouted. "That machine over there is what is causing the X-eggs to gather towards this area. We have to shut it down, before anything else happens." She may have spoken too late for that. Once the machine has reached a considerable height, about a height equal to Amu and Kukai, the X-eggs around the machine began to teem around the machine, physically stacking themselves around it like it was a flower and hundreds of bees were teeming around the flower to pollinate it. X-eggs from all over the school began to clutter themselves towards the machine, forming into a giant ball of X-eggs, completely shrouding the machine within.

* * *

Tadase, Rima, and Yaya were giving it their all against the battle with the giant X-egg. The X-egg unleashed massive amounts of powerful gust towards the Guardians, propelling away Yaya's ducks and Rima's Juggling Party with much ease. Luckily, Tadase was able to block the attack and protect the two girls, but the X-eggs were resilient, and once again unleashed a more furious gust of wind, embedding the air itself with negative energy. Tadase once again blocked out the attack, but who knows how long he can keep this up. Rima and Yaya position themselves again for a second attack for they can't always rely on Tadase to keep blocking out the attacks; all defense and no offense will not help them win this battle, and they both now that Tadase must be exhausted from using multiple Holy Crowns. Rima shot out her hand in front of her while Yaya lifted a tiny rattle with both hands.

"Tight Rope Dancer!"

"Giant Rattle Attack!"

Snakes of Ropes appeared from out of nowhere as she announced her attack followed by a giant rattle appearing from the small rattle. The ropes accelerated forward towards the Giant X-egg, circling around it multiple times. The X-egg couldn't keep up with the movement of four ropes encircling it, causing them to become dizzy. Once the ropes circled around it enough times, all four ropes tightened around the X-egg, using great force to hold it in place. The X-eggs would struggle, but that only seemed to make the rope tighter. It was trapped.

"Do it now, Yaya!" Rima shouted. Yay waddled over as the heavy rattle was causing her to lose her balance, not to mention tire out her arms, but she was successful in navigating towards the X-egg. With one fell swoop, she slammed down her giant rattle on the giant X-egg, causing the numerous smaller X-eggs to break the formation and dispersing everywhere. The X-eggs looked confused as they have spent a considerable amount of energy just to maintain that form, and with the punishing attacks it let out, the X-eggs could barely react to their surrounds. The giant rattle disappears along with the ropes. Tadase lowered his scepter and got the attention of his comrades.

"It looks like the X-eggs here will no longer put up a fight. Let's go meet up with Hinamori-san and Kukai and help them out." It was right after he announced this that certain developments occurred.

"Tadase-kun! Look over there!" Nagihiko shouted, pointing towards the direction Amu and Kukai went. He quietly gasped as he saw the X-eggs clumping together into a giant mass, reaching an incredible size in a matter of seconds. Some of the X-eggs from their battle were attracted to the X-egg mass and floated towards it. But the ones that remained all composed themselves, and attempted again to unify once more into a massive entity, but the X-eggs wanted to try something new, something different. Unbeknownst to the Guardians, these particular X-eggs encountered a person that did terrify them to the point where they would shatter just by being too close to him. Even the X-egg with the most negative energy could not compare the power the person possessed. The X-eggs remember quite vividly what the person's power was like, etched into their cores. Some of that person' power managed to stick around on the X-eggs, so they decided to try something new, something that is more powerful than their previous form. The X-eggs massed together, forming a massive broad torso first before the rest formed into two massive, muscular arms and two massive legs. The head was formed next as it extended out from the body. Two eye holes and a mouth appeared. As typical with X-egg beings, a giant X formed on top of the head, but something new with this being that other X-egg forms have not done was in the middle of the chest, the X-eggs started to move away from the center until a perfectly circular hole showed itself. Overall, the being was 7 feet tall, towering over the three Guardians, Nagihiko, and Nikaidou-sensei.

"What is that?!" Rima yelled. "It looks like a giant of sorts… a behemoth…" While the giant was something to behold, there was a different focus that caught everybody's eyes

"Why is there a hole in that thing's chest?" Yaya pointed out. A hole being in the X-egg giant was quite new for the Guardians as they have never seen anything like it. They have fought giant X-eggs, giant X-characters, Enigma Eggs, X-egg in strange saucers, but never have they encountered something of a X-egg variety with a hole in its chest.

The X-egg giant then ushered out a lout cry, causing all in the vicinity to cover their ears as the screamed was hard to bear. It also encompassed some sort of sadness the everybody felt. This wasn't like the sadness about people not being able to fulfill their dreams. It was more of a… **hollow** feeling, like it wasn't sadness anymore but something more terrible. Once it finished it cry, it bought up one of its arms high in the air, and slammed it down towards Rima. She, being prepared, quickly evaded to the side. The X-giant then swept that same arm across in the direction Rima went. She would not be able to dodge it in time, and judging by the force and trajectory of the swing, it looks like it is going to hurt badly. Just before the arm could strike down Rima, the arm was met with a force of yellow energy. Rima looked behind and noticed Tadase standing while hold his scepter with both his hands. Rima concluded that he must have used his Holy Crown to intercept the attack. She soon stood back up, and all three huddled closer together.

"What do we do, Tadase-kun? That thing is powerful." Rima stated.

"I know. I felt that power when I blocked its physical attack, which begs the question what else can this X-giant do?" he put out there.

"C'mon, you guys. Think of something because I don't want to fight this thing all night, and Amu-chi and Kukai need our help." Yaya added. While they were all together planning out some strategy to take this think out, Nagihiko was off the side with Nikaidou-sense, both trying to come up with ways to contribute to the battle. It is already hard enough that Nagihiko has two unhatched eggs, forcing him to stay towards the sidelines through most encounters, but that hasn't stopped him from actively think of creative ways to help his friends. Nikaidou-sensei used to work for Easter and considers himself to have some inept knowledge on how the X-eggs work seeing that he had to study them in order to create an Embryo from them. It was quite the surprise for Nikaidou-sense that the X-giant formed a hole right in the middle of its chest as he has never seen such behavior from X-eggs. He already knows that all these X-eggs were of Easter's doing, but it did make him question why the X-eggs would carve a hole in the middle of the chest. From all of his studies of the X-eggs when he tried to create an Embryo, he has found that X-eggs, when gathered in large groups, tend to form large humanoid figures. It was like they were trying to copy something that seemed relevant. That leaves the question what exactly are the X-eggs copying with that hole in its chest? The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he got, but during that frustration, he remembered back to the time he had a Heart eggs and the negative feelings that ran through his mind and heart when she accidently smashed it. Why was he thinking about a time like this was probably due to the concentrated amounts of X-eggs? As he remembered those painful memories, he found himself thinking of a certain phrase that he has used when he stared at the broken shared of his Heart egg.

 _A hole in my heart._

That phrase does make sense in retrospect. The Heart egg is supposed be to be a representation of what the bearer wants to be when they grow up. The egg can be interpreted as sort of a metaphorical heart as heart eggs are essentially the "heart" of the bearer's dreams. When a Heart's egg is corrupted, an "X" is placed over it. This could be the representation of the person giving up on their dream. But at the moment when he saw that opening in his broken Heart's egg, there was, metaphorically, a hole in his heart, meaning that he completely lost himself in his despair, which could have influenced his decisions later in life, and also could be attributed to him joining Easter years. Nikaidou-sensei hasn't though all of this completely through because it just came to him, and there is a battle occurring. He would have to delve on this idea more about the hole in the X-giant's chest. This was all speculation, but right now, he has to turn his attention towards the battle.

"Nikaidou-sensei. Have you thought of anything about the current situation?' Nagihiko asked.

"What… oh, no I haven't thought of anything yet." He stated while breaking away from his inner thoughts about the topic previous. It was for the best that Nikaidou-sense didn't share his thoughts on the matter until he is absolutely sure about them. Both of them were stumped; they could not think of anything they can do to help their friends out in battle. Nagihiko's hands began to slowly form into a fist as he felt useless at the moment. Nikaidou-sensei, on the other hand, did remained calm as being angry would help anybody in this situations. He though more and more, but nothing came to mind. He was about to give up, but an idea came to him. It wasn't much but it would at least benefit his three students long enough for them to at least damage the X-giant.

"You know what? I might actually have a plan?" Nikaidou-sense revealed. He turned towards the door and ran through it, leaving behind a frustrated Nagihiko behind.


	9. Ch 9 A Familiar Face

**Ch. 9 A Familiar Face**

Amu and Kukai remained in their positions as the giant sphere of X-eggs floated in front of them. Anything could happen when a dangerous amount of X-eggs are clustered together; they have first-hand experience with situations described above, so they had to be prepared and fast. As far as the sphere, it was massive. There best estimates put it at the size of a house, but in no way larger than an office building. Going along those bounds, they have to put the radius at around ten meters more or less. Whatever the size, currently, it was of no threat because it did do anything other than exist in the space it occupied. By this time, it would have done something as both the Guardians waited a minute. Amu and Kukai were thrown off by the sudden inactivity for an extended period of time—relative to them thought. Even if it didn't attack them, there was still something it did regardless of whether it was on purpose or not. All X-eggs do this regardless of they are aware or not. Ran was the first to break the angst of waiting.

"Amu-chan, do you feel that?" Ran asked Amu directly into her head.

"Yeah, and I don't like it. All that concentrated negative energy. It doesn't feel good. In fact, my body is starting to form goosebumps all over." She shared as she brought her arm up and touched the goosebumps all over it.

"What do you think that ball of X-eggs is doing." Ran inquired, though it would be unlikely for Amu to know such a thing.

"I don't know. It's not really doing anything, which worries me because that could only mean that it is preparing something, something for us." She revealed with noticeable tones of worry and distraught embed in her voice. She turned over to Kukai and noticed the anticipation of waiting all scribbled over his face, but the rest of his body seemed collect and calm. That is one thing she admired about Kukai how he is able to stay calm under strenuous conditions even though there is worry and concern within him. He does his best to not show it, but something it comes out. Just by watching him, she too can also do this, but it was time ask his thoughts about the matter at hand.

"Kukai, what do you think all these X-eggs are doing?" Amu put out there. Kukai responded without taking his eyes off the sphere of X-eggs.

"I not too sure, but it looks like it is getting ready."

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to unveil its true form." He answered her, pointing towards the sphere. She looked towards that direction and noticed the sphere's activity. Certain parts of the sphere, four to be specific, began to vibrate aggressively. The continued vibrations of those areas began to elongate, similar to how a worm borrows out of the ground. The X-eggs four long, large tentacle like arms. These tentacles were all located near the mid-section of the sphere. The tips of the tentacles than sprouted out four finger-like protrusions until they solidified and crunched up to form a claw structure. Once the claws were formed, the ball shifted itself 90 degrees upwards so that one hemisphere was facing the Guardians. The side that was facing them then revealed an "X" on its face. What preceded all this was the choir of X-eggs all screeching in unison. The loud, piercing sound of hundreds of X-eggs wailing was unbearable to the near-by Guardians as their ear drums could not withstand the damaging-level decibels. Both of them were forced to cover their ears with that palms, but the piercing wail was too strong for palms to regulate the amount of sound coming it. They began to wince in pain as the screeching continued, so the last thing they could do was use their fingers to plug up their ears. This late attempted worked as the sound was now at an uncomfortable level, but manageable. They both unplugged their ears as the screeching finally stopped. A distinct ringing lingers in both their ears since they were late to adequately protect their hearing, but it should subside in time. The X-sphere, to them, now adopted a battle stance as the four claw arms now were pointing in their direction, signifying that it was ready to attack. Without little notice whatsoever, one of the claw arms jumped at them at a high speed attempting to hit one of the Guardians. The speed of the attack was dangerously impressive as both were not expecting the arm to move that fast. Its speed could be compared to that of a frog using its tongue to catch a fly; almost instantaneous. Amu and Kukai barely had enough time to dodge the incoming attack the largeness of the appendages; they assumed something that large would move sluggishly.

"That was so fast!" Ran announced as the impressive attacked almost hit them. Just like the first attack, another two claw arms exploded from their positions; one for each Guardian. Some were unluckier than others. Kukai hasn't quite recovered from the last attack, and seeing the incoming claw arms forced him to tilt his board up. The claw arm collided with his board as the sound of metal echoed throughout the air. The massive force sent Kukai flying many meters away, causing him to lose his balance and putting him in danger of falling off his board. Amu, on the other hand, was more fortunate as she recovered from her dodge in time to evade the next attack. She rolled to her right as the claw arm dangerously almost strike her in the body. She was inched away from getting hit, but she proved successful in dodging the attack, but it was not without loss. Once she got back in a upright positions, she noticed a small tear in her skirt on the side. The X-sphere did not appreciate that both managed again to evade its attack, and seeing that Amu was the closet to her, the fourth arm homed in on her for an attack.

"Amu-chan, look out!" Ran alerted Amu. Immediately looking up, she saw the fourth arm coming at her. Evading the attack was not an option as she was in an awkward position. She quickly clapped her hands together, allowing her pom-poms to materialize as a sparkly glow irradiated from its materialization. The massive arm whipped her, striking her pom-poms. The hit from the arms was so overwhelming that it caused her to break her defensive pose as her arms flew to her sides as well as causing her to be blown back through the air with no hint of slowing down.

"Gahhhhhhhhh!" she screamed as she hurled through the air. The sounds of her screams instantaneously hit Kukai's ears, looking in her direction and finding her hurling through the air without decelerating

"Don't worry, I got you!' Kukai declared, regaining his balance and jetted towards her. Quickly overmatching her speed for a little while so that he was leading her, he shifted towards her line of trajectory, and began to slow down as he turned towards he and opened his hands up to catch. He decreased his velocity incrementally so Amu would land in his arms at her speed rather than crashing into him. Amu slowly drew closer and closer until Kukai wrapped his arms around her waist, and immediately began to slow down. Both quickly lost speed constantly until they both were at a standstill. Once Amu didn't feel the wind quickly passing her, she opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of Kukai over her as the moon served as a background along with the stars. The sight of Kukai over the moon made him look majestic, similar to how a knight would be on his horse as he stood in the horizon. Her cheeks started to redden upon this fact.

"You all right?" Kukai inquired. Amu didn't hear him at first until it came to her how he was holding her. Realizing the position, she was in, she quickly got off of him.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for saving me back there." She responded, still a little flustered as to how he held her in his arms.

"No problem, Hinamori. You would have done the same for me. But right now isn't the best time to give thanks." He announced, returning his attention towards the X-sphere. Amu turned towards where he was starring and finding the X-sphere there. Her embarrassment quickly faded as she had to return to the battle at hand and being embarrassed about being held has no place in battle. Now that they have seen its attacks, both Guardians could assess its power. Its attacks were fast and powerful; a deadly combination for anybody as usually the bigger things are, the more give up as there was a unspoken assumption that strength and speed are proportional, meaning if one went up, the other went down. However, this X-sphere proved otherwise. In short, this X-sphere was quite a formidable opponent for them. Kukai began to stretch his hands and neck.

"This thing may be fast, but I bet that we're faster." Kukai declared, revving up his board. "Think you can out-maneuver its attacks? He asked. Amu gave a quick nod and prepared her Heart Speeders. Once they were prepared, they exchanged looks with each other, and in a split second, they accelerated forward from rest at a very high speed towards the X-sphere. The X-sphere responded by attacking once again with its four claw arms. Its attacks consisted mostly of its arms jabbing into the air with speed and power, but it seemed that Amu and Kukai proved to be faster and agile as they were able to avoid the arms and out-speed its attacks as the arms jabbed where the two once were. They drew close to it, so close that the X-sphere had a difficult time attacking the Guardians as they flew circles around it. With growing frustration, the X-sphere began to get more support. All of the arms shifted towards the right until there was an open area region between two arm joints. The X-eggs around that area began to extend out fast, forming a long tentacle-like arms. Once it reached the same length, claw-like protrusions formed on the end of the arm, thus creating a fifth arm on the X-sphere. Now having access to another arms, it continued with its attack of jabbing the air. Though it still continued to miss, Kukai was having trouble as he had three arms attacking him. Some jabs were near misses, but he could feel that its attacks were getting more accurate over time. Kukai had to do something before the X-sphere manages to land a blow on him. He looks over at Amu, flying past the X-sphere and dodging its attacks, but she only had two arms attacking her, and it seemed that she was dodging them with ease. This gave him an idea.

"Hinamori, try throwing your Heart Rods at its joints!" Kukai yelled across the sky.

"Alright." She responded. While still flying around, she concentrated as her pom-poms disappeared. Taking their place was two Heart Rods, one on each arm. Getting in a shot won't be easy as the two arms were relentless in their attacks. She need to find an opening if she was going to throw her Heart Rods accurately, and it seemed that she would get her request fulfilled. Passing by her several meters in front of her, Kukai made a fast past. What followed him was the three arms chasing him, causing the three arms to cross the two arms attacking Amu. With this development, the two arms chasing Amu needed to untangle themselves, so they pulled away so that they can uncross themselves with the other three. A perfect opportunity has presented itself. With the precious amount of time allotted to her, she immediately stopped her motion and prepared to attack by first twirling the two Heart Rods. Once they reached a certain twirling speed…

"Spiral Heart!" She shouted as she released her Heart rods, sending them towards the X-sphere. Both rods encircle the X-ball, slowly covering the joints of the arms with sparkle being released by the two Heart Rods. The sparkles settled on the joints of its five arms, causing the joints to lock up, and restricting the X-sphere's arm movements. The three arms tracking Kukai suddenly stopped, giving Kukai some much needed space. Taking advantage of the X-sphere immobilization, Kukai slowed down to a stop and turned to face the X-sphere. He pulled back his right leg in a kicking position and held it there. A ball of shining energy began to materialize as energy accumulated within the soccer ball-sized sphere. When reaching its maximum power, Kukai attempted to stuff more energy beyond the maximum. This did not go without negative effects as he can feel his energy sapping away as he placed unstable amounts of energy into his attack, but if he can pull it off, it might bring both Amu and him closer to taking down this X-sphere. Finally reaching a breaking point, it came time to unleash his over-charge attack.

"Shining Shot!" he shouted as he dropped his wind-up leg, kicking the ball of energy at the X-sphere. The energized ball crashed dead center on the X-sphere. The overwhelming force shredded off multiple X-eggs off the giant sphere, exposing its "heart" located at the center, the Embryo Finger X. The machine was very well functional as Kukai and Amu felt the immense negative energy overflowing from the machine. The reason they are feeling this now is because the X-eggs covering the Embryo Finder X acted like a membrane that prevented the raw negative energy from flowing out of the heart; the X-eggs served as some sort of shield that prevented the denser energy from leaking out. Needless to say, chills ran through both the guardians' bodies as the exposed "heart" leaked out a miasma of negative energy. Amu shook herself out of the immense power and endeavored to attack its heart. Calling back her Heart Rods, she began to twirl them up again for a second attack on the heart. If the attack was successful and managed to damage the machine, then it could bring a stop to this X-sphere along with Easter's plan to lure out the Embryo.

"Spiral Heart!" she yelled once more, throwing her Heart Rods once more, but she was too late for her attack as the surrounding X-eggs began to seep into the opening, covering up the machine once more with layers of X-eggs. The Heart Rods hit the surface, and merely bounced off at a different angle and boomeranging their way back to Amu. Now seething with fury, the X-sphere once again let out another devastating cry, but instead of sadness, it was only filled with rage. While it let out its horrible cry, the five arms, except the one on the top, began to shift once more to the right, allowing the X-eggs to form yet another claw arm, totaling up to six arm, each sixty degrees apart. Once it created its sixth arm, the X-sphere wasted no time as its arms instantaneously let out an onslaught of jabs along with swings towards the two Guardians. Amu and Kukai once again fell into an evasive maneuver; however, the X-sphere seemed faster and precise as both could feel pressure it was giving them. Missies turned into near misses and near missis turned to nicking the clothes on them. Indeed, it has stepped up its game, and its game would only continue to increase from here on out. It wasn't until Amu made a mistake that things took a turn for the worst. While she continued to dodge the attacks, the X-sphere sent two jab attacks at her, forcing her to dodge one and block the other. She evaded towards the right while simultaneously materializing her pom-poms to block the oncoming attack, but the third arm raised itself up high into the sky, and swiped down with all of its force. She was no way prepared for such an attack. She raised her arms up high to block the attack. The arm hit her hands with devastating force, feeling unable to withstand the blow, but the force was too much for her to block, and ultimately forces her hands to be thrown to the side as she plummeted towards the earth. She was losing altitude fast, and Kukai wouldn't be able to save her this time. He can only watch in horror as she fell to the earth from the sky before she disappeared into the shrubbery of trees tops.

* * *

Rima, Yaya, and Tadase's attention were redirected beyond the X-giant as something was screaming loudly. All of them gasped as they saw a giant ball of X-eggs all gathered together. Considering the distance between them, they estimated that the sphere was about the size of a house. The situation slowly turned grimmer as the X-sphere began to sprout four arms with claws from its sides. This new development in the situation Amu and Kukai were in was certainly becoming more dangerous. They all wanted to assist the pair that had the challenge, but they first have to deal with their problem first with the X-giant in front of them. It was still mind-jogging to see that hole in its chest, but they can think about that later. Another concern that invaded their minds was Nikaidou-sensei as he just simply ran off. Tadase thought that he ran off to acquire something useful to help them defeat the X-giant; he heard Nagihiko and Nikaidou-sensei talking earlier. All the Guardian's attention gravitated back to the X-giant as it began to make its move. It rose up both its massive arms high into the air, possibly gathering some potential energy. It continued to stretch out its hands until it reached its limit, and in a split second, dropped both its arms forcefully down towards the ground, or in this case, the roof. A loud slam echoed throughout the area as hardened X-eggs collided with solid concreate. The sound was then followed by tremors as the Guardians felt themselves lose their balance. Some wobbled their thighs in order to keep their balance while others put their arms at shoulder height to help maintain balance. Tadase, Yaya, and Nagihiko were fortunate enough to keep their balance, but the same could not have been said for Rima as her efforts to keep balance were in vain. She landed on her bottom as she lost her balance. She was about to get up but couldn't as she winced to a small amount of pain. She would attempt again, but the X-giant had already taken advantage of her down position. Two seconds after she fell, the X-giant hastily raised up its left arm high into the air until its shadow was cast upon Yaya. Noticing the one Guardian falling, the X-giant took the advantaged and raised one arm up. Rima looked on in fear as the moon before her was blocked off by a purple pillar of X-eggs. With tears at the edge of her eyes, she only looked on to the pillar. Her shock was so great that she didn't have the strength to let out a cry due to shock and realization that she was going to be hurt.

"Ahhhhhh!" she screamed as her paralysis was broken the moment the arm swung down at her. She couldn't bear to look. Her eyes were tightly shut in preparation of the impending hit. She felt a force on the side, followed by the sound of a heavy object landing on the floor exploding outward, but she didn't feel pain. Could it be that she was in immense amount of pain that she didn't feel it at all? Taking a peak with one eye, she saw the arm of the X-giant on the floor after it had slammed its arm, but Rima was on under it. In fact, she felt that she was in a different position, almost like a princess hold. She felt two hands under her as she better accessed the situation.

 _Somebody saved me…_

To find out her savior, she looked up to see who's set of arms belong to. Long, lush blue hair got blocked her vision, she at this point, she didn't need to know who saved he as she can already deduce who did. Nagihiko assisted her up from her cradle position. Once up, she looked onwards to Nagihiko who was on the floor with both his knees. He tried to pick himself up, but winced and fell back to his original position. Flipping himself around to pick himself up, Rima saw the large scraps on both his knees. The scraps looked horrible as his knees were a bright red as small amounts of blood oozed out of the openings. Rima's hands couldn't stop shaken upon the gruesome sight. Nagihiko again attempted to pick himself up from his position, and although there was pain, he was, nonetheless, successful, and was now on his feet. He turned to face Rima.

"Are you okay, Rima?" he asked with still worry in his voice as he was barely cutting it close.

"You idiot! You could have gotten yourself hurt!" she yelled at him "You can't Character Transform, so what would have happened if you were unsuccessful?! You were lucky that it was only scraps, but if it was more?! You could have… have…" she stuttered as she couldn't finish her sentence. Nagihiko decided to step in.

"Sorry to make you worry like that, but I couldn't just let that thing hurt you." He responded. Wiping away the two tears formed, Rima turned away from him.

"Thanks for saving me, then! she replied.

"It was nothing." He stated with a warm smile. She didn't see it, but she knew that he was doing it. Both Tadase and Yaya hastily approached them.

"Nagihiko, are you alright?" Tadase inquired.

"Yeah. I just got some scraps, but I will be fine. Rima also seems to be fine." He replied while all of them turn towards her. She turned back around to face them, and she looked collect. She doesn't want them to know that she was almost crying.

"like he said, I'm fine, thanks to Nagihiko." She reaffirmed them.

"Good." Tadase replied. They all then returned their attention back to the X-giant, who was standing a few meters in front of them.

"We can't just keep prolonging this battle out. We have to take care of now!" Nagihiko stated. "Does anybody have any ideas? Even if its small or no good, it is better than what we have been doing." Nagihiko asked. Nobody responded to his question. With Amu out there taking on the X-sphere, they essentially have no way of purifying the X-eggs. Rima was the first to step forwards out of the group.

"If none of us have a plan, then we keep on fighting until we do. This X-giant is not going to defeat itself, and we can't just let it run amok. This thing must have a weakness, so I suggest we find it." Rima suggested.

"I guess there is no other way." Nagihiko concluded. With all that now taken care of, the Guardians now began to spread themselves out to once again engage the X-giant. The X-giant, now seeing the Guardians spread themselves out, began its attack. It stretched out its right arm very far out, and swung horizontally around to strike all who are within its attack radius. Once by one, each Guardian jumped over its arm. The X-giant attacked again but only with its left arm, stretching it out far, and swinging horizontally, and like before, they all dodged the attack. Thrice it attacked, but this time with both its arm coming from each side, but with the left arm lower than the right arm. The Guardians all had to jump over the left arm while with the right arm, they had to duck. Each Guardian was once again successful in dodging, and the X-giant now had to retract its arms back into it. While doing so, Rima took on a battle stance.

"Tightrope Dancer!" Four snake of ropes appeared beside her and all hurled themselves towards the X-giant. The X-giant was in the middle of retracting, so was vulnerable right now and couldn't retaliate. The ropes wrapped themselves around its legs and arms tightly. The X-giant struggled to free itself from the ropes, but doing so caused the ropes to tighten around its arms and legs more. In other words, resisting would be futile for the X-giant.

"Does anybody have a bright idea now? I don't know how long I can keep it bound." She explained to her friends. The X-giant continued to struggle for its freedom, and slowly it was prevailing as the ropes started to loosen. The remaining three Guardians tried to think of something, anything that can at least break the form the X-eggs took, but nothing came to mind. The X-giant slowly began to cause the ropes to reach their limits as some of the fibers on them began to tear. Suddenly, the door to the roof burst open, revealing Nikaidou-sensei holding a giant irregular fishing net. It is irregular because all around it, it had wires and metal attached to it along with a battery. Nikaidou-sense sprinted towards the bounded X-giant and threw the net over it. The moment the net landed on the X-giant, it let out a devastating shock, causing it to fall to its hands and knees as the ropes finally gave way to its strength. The Guardians look over towards Nikaidou-sensei as to try to understand what he has done. Of course, he already had an explanation prepared for them.

"Electrified X-egg catching net. It gives off just enough voltage to subdue any X-eggs caught in it, but not enough to serious damage or break them. Think of it as a way to immobilize them." He explained calm and confident. The reason he was like that was because during his run to fetch the net, he had to take off his glasses, changing him to his more confident, "evil" persona. Yaya was the first to say something.

"Look, its evil Nikaidou-sensei!" she pointed out.

"I told you, I am not evil anymore." He refuted. Whether he was evil or not, Tadase still had a question for him.

"Why do you have something like this in the school." Tadase asked sternly.

"To be honest, I had some 'special' equipment stashed around the school when I worked for Easter. Once I quit, I didn't really want to go around and remove them from their hiding place. They were all well-placed where no students or faculty would be able to have access. I thought that one day it would come in handy, and it looks like I was right." he said with a sort of grateful expression for not removing his equipment. The X-giant could barely keep its form as the X-eggs around it began to fall off and land on the ground, exhausted from mild electrocution. However, the battle was far from over. Finding whatever strength it can muster, the giant slowly rose from its hand and knees until it once again stood on its feet. Its eyes began to change color as the purple glow changed to an evil-red glow. Both its arms split down the middle, creating four arms. It hands then morphed into pincers similar to that of crabs. Its legs also split down the middle and forming four legs. The overall new form the X-giant was still massive, but looked more menacing as the change made the X-giant look more like a crab. Using its newly-gained pincers, the X-giant, or X-crab as a more fitting name, cut through the net until it was rendered useless. Once freeing itself, it turned to stare down the four Guardians and the teacher with its sinister, glowing red eyes. Shivers were sent up through everybody's spines the moment the X-crab laid its gaze upon them. It was at this time that the air was once again filled with a horrific scream. Turning towards the source, the saw the giant ball of X-eggs now had six arms, and was in the middle of its assault against Amu and Kukai. They watched as the X-eggs attacked them both, but the real fear kicked in when the X-ball finally landed a strike on Amu, sending her down towards the earth at a frightening velocity until she disappeared in the trees.

"Amu!" Rima yelled in disbelief as her best friend was defeated.

"Hinamori-san!" Tadase hollered. There was nothing they could do other than to watch. They felt powerless to help as they had the X-crab to worry about, and with the new form it adopted, it doesn't look like the Guardians will be able to go and look for Amu.

* * *

Amu could feel the wind brushing past her as she rocketed towards the ground. The attack force from the X-sphere was more powerful than she thought. She couldn't possibly recover in time to properly land, and she couldn't stop herself from falling. Amu knew that she was going to land hard, and it would bring a lot of pain. She closed shut her eyes tightly in preparation for the landing. She felt that she was approaching the ground as the branches and leaves touched her skin. The branches did help in absorbing some of the force, but they were small braches and couldn't really support her—she was lucky that she didn't crash into larger branches as it would have most certainly hurt her. It was only a matter of meters until she impacted the floor. But before she could do so, something grabbed ahold of her, and it felt like it hugged her as its arms wrapped tightly around her. She felt herself turn to the side before a large forced stopped her from falling. It must have been the ground, but who was the person who grabbed her? She doubts that it was Kukai seeing that he was preoccupied with the X-sphere. She slowly opened her eyes to see who grabbed her. The first thing that met her eyes was a pair of arms warmed around her. The way they hugged her tightly might suggest the person was desperately trying to save her. The person's right arm had some sort of metal claw attached it. Feeling around her cheek, there was something cold. He raised her head and saw a metal cross on it along with a short, blue navy top. There was only one person who wore such an outfit along with a metal claw. She shifted her head to confirm the identity of the person who saved her.

"Ikuto!"

* * *

 **And there is another chapter. Feel free to comment for I am always looking for some constructive feedback. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask whether in regards to this story or any others that I have written.**


	10. Ch 10 Understatement

**As a Christmas day present, I posted a new chapter. It is short, but it is something. Happy Holidays**

 **Ch. 10 Understatement**

Amu stared at Ikuto for what seemed for a indiscriminant amount of time, feeling a mixture of gratitude, confusion, and embarrassment, considering the fact that she was on top of him with his arms wrapped around her back. She didn't want to show her embarrassment even though he was unconscious as far as she knows, but she couldn't help it as her cheeks remained a bright pink-red shade. Beside her accumulating embarrassment, her mind was still trying to piece together the current events that just occurred. _Where did Ikuto come from? Was he here the whole time? Why is he here?_ Those were the types of questions that rushed through Amu's mind, but there would be no answers to it other than speculation, and the speculation was what started to gnaw at Amu's mind for the last question she asked herself made her mind engage in the plethora of possibilities as to why Ikuto was here, but she already knew the one possibility as to why he was here. She has known Ikuto for quite some time, and yet she doesn't know that much about him. She knows that Utah is his sister, and he, Utah, and Tadase have known each other for quite some time, but that was it. She doesn't know much else, and it is because of her lack of knowledge about him that she doesn't know why he works for Easter. And it is because of this that she thinks that Ikuto had a hand in the battle she and her friends are in. She doesn't want to believe that, but there is very little evidence to support some other reason. Last time she accused him of creating X-eggs, she found out that it wasn't him, and she said some hurtful things to him. The memory of that time sadden Amu as she can feel her heart thumping hard as she remembered vividly the words she told Ikuto when she believed that he was the one taking Heart Eggs from people.

 _I hate you._

Realizing what she was thinking, Amu vigorously shook her head from those kinds of thoughts. She knows that Ikuto would never do that. Last time, she just assumed, but this time, it will be different. She will just straight up ask him what is going on. She knows that Ikuto will never give her a straight answer; that is just the type of person he is. Nonetheless, she has to at least try. With her resolve being bulked up, it momentarily made her forget the position she was in. Her cheek once again became flush with red.

She has to get off of him.

He put her hands on the ground and started to raise herself up, but when she got off his chest, Ikuto's arms tighten and forced Amu back down on his chest, hugging her more tightly than before. She wanted to move around and scrabble, but he couldn't when Ikuto was hugging her down. She looked up and realized that she was even closer to his head, with her hair slightly brushing along Ikuto's nose. She stared intently at Ikuto with redden cheeks as she was helpless to leave his grasp. Even if he was unconscious, the more she stared at Ikuto, the more she though that he looked rather… majestic. She can never tell what he is thinking, but looking at his sleeping face just made it look like he was resting with ease. She began to wiggle herself so that she can slide her arms through Ikuto's arms and place them in front of her, which made her move her head gently back and forth, brushing along Ikuto's face and creating an itchy sensation at the base of his nose. With her left hand now in front of her, she gingerly began to extend her hand towards him. Her heart pounded harder as her hand drew closer. Several centimeters from his left cheek, she hesitated to proceed, which would cost her dearly for Ikuto's eyes started to twitch. He slowly opened them, blinded by the moonlight before adjusting to it. His eyes were greeted with a small hand hovering over his left cheek. Looking down, Amu's blushing face existed with her golden-brown eyes wide opened. Ikuto also realized that he had his arms around her, hugging her tightly. Even with the position he was in, Amu was in a more-questionable one.

"What are you doing?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"N-n-nothing. I was just trying to wake you up." She stuttered haphazardly, saying it like she just realized it as she surfed through her head to give him a reasonable answer.

"It kind of looks like you were about place your hand on my cheek." He pointed out, forming a small grin.

"I wasn't, but enough about that. Now that you are awake, if you don't mind, would you let go of me!" Amu demanded. Ikuto slowly complied as he loosened his grip around her body. She quickly pushed herself off him and got back on her feet. She brushed off any dirt that might have stuck to her uniform while Ikuto took his time to get up from his position. He winced at pain the moment he tried to get back up on his feet, to which Amu noticed.

"Hey, are you alright?!" she asked concerned. Ikuto remained where he sat for a moment, slowly passing through the pain before he was able to stand back up once he got passed that moment.

"I'll be fine." Ikuto answered.

 _Lier…_ she thought. She would have to be crazy to think that somebody would be fine after taking a nasty fall like that at a high speed. He was trying to be tough, but she can tell that he was hurt. A sadden expression soon took hold of Amu.

"You're hurt… and you did it to protect me…" she trailed off. Silence once again took ahold of the area as Ikuto stared Amu, who was staring at the ground with her head tilted slightly from the horizontal. He extended his hand towards her, placing it on top of her head, prompting her to look up at him.

"I told you that I'm fine. I have taken more serious damage in the past." He explained. Amu gave him a small smile, wiping her eyes off as they started to get teary eye.

"Thank you for saving me." She said warmly.

"Don't thank me. I was just in the neighborhood and I thought you needed some help. And besides, it is the least I can do to protect…" he didn't finish as he retracted his back. He doesn't want her to know about him; she will eventually, but just not now. Ikuto already knows that he took a big risk saving Amu when he was ordered to not intervene on matter the circumstances. But that he has, Ulquiorra will most surely adjust and move on to his plan B. It would have been better for him not to intervene. The idea of Amu coming into physical harm shook Ikuto. But now that he has disobeyed ordered, he doesn't know what to expect, making him question whether if it was worth it to save Amu. The answer to that was very simple.

"Protect? Protect me from what?" Amu asked, taking a step forward, feeling like he wasn't referring to the giant X-sphere that attacked her.

"Don't worry yourself about it." He responded as he turned his back towards her and proceed to walk away with the intent of disappearing into the forest. Amu didn't like his response. She quickly dashed passed him, spread her arms and legs and blocked his path, determined to get at least one reasonable answer from him.

"I am not letting you go until you tell me what you meant." She firmly stated. Ikuto didn't have time for this for he had to get away from her as fast as he could. He took one step to the right, and Amu responded by moving to the right. He backtracked and took one step to the left, and Amu follow. They both made eye contact, seeing the determination in her eyes.

"You're not going to let me go, are you." He casually exclaimed. Amu didn't respond, but she didn't have to for Ikuto already knew the answer. He took one deep breath.

"You should know that the giant X-sphere you were fighting was only the beginning. It is only going to get harder from here." The tone in Ikuto voice was deep and very serious to the point where Amu lighten up her stance, intently listen to what Ikuto was saying.

"What are you talking about?" she inquired.

"Easter will not hold back anymore. I know you made your answer, but you should know that changes are coming, and you should be prepared for what is about to come." Amu has heard this twice before, once from Dia, and once from Nobuko. The fact that Ikuto is now telling her about change was now starting to become serious, and quite possibly dangerous.

"What do you mean by that? This is the third time I heard about change, but what change are you talking about? Do you mean about Easter's tactics, or about the number of X-eggs that will appear?" Ikuto didn't bother to respond. Instead, he let the question linger and proceed to walk past Amu. She completely let him pass, pondering on what those three meant about change. She can't talk to Dia this instant, and Nobuko was not here, leaving the illusive Ikuto to answer her question. Looking determined, she quickly caught up to Ikuto and placed her hand on his right shoulder.

"I don't know what you mean by that Ikuto? What change are you referring to?" she asked, almost sounding like a plea. Ikuto remained where he was, not bothering to take Amu's hand off. He doesn't want to involve her in his problem, but it looks like that was going to be inevitable. However, she chose this path the moment she declared to stop Easter. He remembers that day very clearly as he had to make sure that she would not get involved with his problems. There was only one effective way he could have done this, and it was the same method he used on Tadase.

"You will learn soon enough. After all, **He** is here." He uttered before taking Amu's hand off his shoulder and leaping a great distance towards a tree branch. He soon disappeared from her sight, though he was still keeping an eye on her from a distance, acting as a first line of defense in case **He** would trying anything harmful.

 _Ikuto… who are you referring to?_ Amu though about what he said. At first, nothing came to mind, but she then remembered something Nikaidou-sensei said. She remembered him saying that Easter hired a new person to search for the Embryo. The only description she got about this new employee is that he was intimidating. _Could Ikuto be referring to this new employee? Is this new person responsible for all of this?_ The more she thought about this new person, the more she felt an ominous feeling that something terrible was coming. _Exactly who can this person be, and exactly is he capable of?_ However, she would have to wait to finish her though for the scream of the X-sphere interrupted her thought process.

"Amu-chan, the X-sphere is still up there. We have to do something." Ran suggested, but what can she do. She has tried fighting it and was almost badly injured. It continues to grow stronger with every passing second. Kukai is still engaging the X-sphere, and so are the other Guardians engaged with the X-eggs. It appears as if they were fighting a losing battle, and she doesn't know how much longer she can keep this up. She hesitated to engage the X-sphere again for she will surely be overpowered again. It was at this critical moment that she felt a slight warmness in her heart. She placed her hand over her heart to monitor what was happening before the words of someone echoed through her mind.

 _Keep your radiance… Never give up…_

"You're right, I can't give up. I made a promise to myself to protect everyone I can from Easter." She said out loud, speaking to nobody around, but Amu knew that she was around, and that she heard her declaration.

"I will keep my radiance, and I will overcome this challenge." Amu declared. She concentrated again to materialize her Heart Speeders, leaving her stationary position as a great velocity, getting back into the fight, determined to win.

* * *

"It appears that you have disobeyed my orders… but that was to be expected. You have left me with no other choice but to execute the alternate course of the plan."


End file.
